Ukraine: 'OSCE monitors denied access to Debaltsevo' - mission chief Apakan

OSCE Mission Chief Ertugrul Apakan said that members of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR/DPR) had denied OSCE monitors access to Debaltsevo after the ceasefire agreement came into force on Sunday. He made the comments at a briefing of the Organization for the Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Kiev, Sunday. DNR head Alexander Zakharchenko has said the ceasefire doesn't apply to the situation in Debaltsevo, since the battle there was not mentioned in the recent Minsk agreement.

Reportedly the OSCE had wanted to access Debaltsevo to monitor the Minsk-agreed ceasefire but were told the situation there was too dangerous. DNR fighters are reported to have encircled several thousand Ukrainian troops in Debaltsevo, one of Ukraine's largest railroad junctions. Those who try to escape the "cauldron" would be in "violation of the Minsk agreements" and will therefore be "stopped and destroyed," Zakharchenko stressed at a briefing in Donetsk Saturday.

In Sunday's presser Apakan called “on all parties to fully adhere to the ceasefire in all locations” and guarantee the mission’s representatives have access to “fulfil its monitoring role.”