You're reading: Minsk contact group announces ‘harvest ceasefire’ as shelling in Donbas continues

Another ceasefire in the Donbas was agreed during the latest meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk, according to a Facebook posting made on June 21 by Darka Olifer, the press secretary to Leonid Kuchma, Ukraine’s top representative in the group.

The sides agreed to a ceasefire starting from June 24 – the beginning of the harvesting season in eastern Ukraine. As well as being heavily industrialized, the region also has a large agricultural sector.

While the agreed ceasefire is only to last until August 31, there is a possibility it could be prolonged, according to Victoria Talakina, a senior spokesperson for the Russian-backed forces that have seized control of part of Donetsk Oblast.

The latest ceasefire initiative is the 15th attempt to bring a halt to the fighting in the Donbas since the beginning of the war in the spring of 2014. The last, one-day ceasefire occurred on June 1, when Ukraine marked International Children’s Day.

Meanwhile, the fighting continued. Over the last 24 hours, Ukraine’s forces have suffered no fatal casualties, but two soldiers were wounded in action, Ukrainian Ministry of Defense spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said at a press briefing in Kyiv on June 22. Over that time, there were at least 35 attacks on Ukrainian troops by Russian-backed forces, he said.

“Even before sunrise, the enemy had made two artillery strikes on Ukrainian troops’ forward positions in the Novoaidar district (of the Luhansk Oblast),” Motuzyanyk said.

“After 1900, the main hostilities were taking place in the Popasna district. The enemy used mortars three times, and also directed intense fire on our positions with firearms.”

Fresh nighttime combat clashes were recorded near the towns of Stanytsya Luhanska and Zhovte in the Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine’s military reported.

Two main battle tanks and one armored personnel carrier were seen in used by Russian-backed forces in the outskirts of the government-held front-line city of Avdiyivka, and there was fresh fighting near the villages of Pisky and Luhanske, as well as near Svitlodarsk near the occupied city of Debaltseve.

Intense mortar fire on Ukrainian positions was reported overnight at fighting hot spots to the northeast of the city of Mariupol in Donetsk Oblast. Reports of shelling came from Hnutove and Vodyane, as well as positions near the villages of Starohnativka and Lebedynske, Ukraine’s military said.

Also, after a short clash with Ukrainian forces on the night before, Russian-backed forces repeatedly shelled residential areas of the city of Maryinka just east of Donetsk on June 22. At 11.00 a.m. local time, a local woman was injured by shrapnel from an 82-millimeter mortar round, Ukraine’s military press officer in Avdiyivka, Anton Myronovych, told the Kyiv Post.

A later report from the Ukrainian delegation to the Joint Coordination and Control Center (JCCC), a military liaison body, said a 43-year-old woman from Maryinka was hospitalized in the town of Kurakhove in a moderate to severe condition with shrapnel injuries to her forearm and upper leg.

As hostilities in the Donbas continue, foreign diplomatic moves to bring an end to the war have gained some life.

Emmanuel Macron, the recently elected French president, announced there would be a reboot of the Normandy Four talks between the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany, and France ahead of the G20 summit, which is due to take place on July 7-8 in Hamburg. The last Normandy Four talks between officials from the four countries took place in Berlin, Germany, in October 2016.

The new round of negotiations would allow the new French president “to get a better understanding of what stage the Donbas conflict settlement process is at,” Macron told France’s La Figaro newspaper on June 21.

The Kremlin has confirmed that it will participate in the proposed talks.

The new negotiations could be held by the end of June, Russian Presidential Aide Yuriy Ushakov said on June 21, although he added that at this time only a telephone conversation between the four leaders was envisaged.