Foreign ministers from the Normandy Quartet countries have called on the trilateral Contact Group for Ukraine to agree a schedule for the withdrawal of weapons below a 100 mm caliber from the line of contact in Donbas, the chair of the Normandy format's ministerial meeting in Berlin said in a statement.
“We furthermore call for the withdrawal of mortars and heavy weapons
below 100mm as well as all types of tanks. We call upon the Trilateral
Contact Group in consultation with Special Monitoring Mission and Joint Center
for Control and Coordination to agree on a relevant schedule,”
according to the statement.
“We also strongly call on the sides to be fully cooperative on the verification process,” the document says.
At their meeting in Berlin, the foreign ministers of Germany, France,
Russia and Ukraine also noted that “the situation remains tense because
of numerous violations.”
“In particular, we expressed our grave concern at the recent outbreak
of fights over the last weekend, including the use of heavy weapons
around Shyrokyne and Donetsk Airport,” the statement says.
“We call on all sides to stop fighting and demonstrate their
commitment to fully implementing the ceasefire and conclude the
withdrawal of heavy weapons definitely,” the document says.
