Foreign Minister Lajčák: Maintaining ceasefire is crucial

The ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, brokered the past week in Minsk, has been maintained - even though not throughout the whole country, Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák said after the Government's session on Wednesday. Lajčák doesn't like the fact that gunfire in the Debaltseve region continues and that separatists hinder free access for the OSCE monitoring mission to areas of warfare. "That's an issue that needs to be tackled at the highest political level," he said. The separatists maintain that the ceasefire - brokered by representatives of France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia - doesn't apply to Debaltseve, which is a strategically important railway and road node connecting two eastern Ukraine regions controlled by pro-Russian separatists. Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák considers it crucial to maintain the ceasefire. The past week's agreement must not be allowed to erode in the same manner as the September agreement in Minsk did, he stressed."I believe that it would be the failure of all of us to let a bunch of adventurists and bandits disrespect the document that was the product of very serious work," he underlined.