A new ceasefire, which is supposed to be indefinite, has taken effect in Donbass at midnight on July 21, the Joint Forces Operation’s Command said in a Facebook statement on Sunday.
“The situation has been calm on the frontline since 00:01 on July 21,” the statement reads.
Meanwhile, according to the mission of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) to the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC), no violations were recorded since the ceasefire had taken effect.
The parties to the conflict tried to make a new ceasefire agreement after Vladimir Zelensky had taken office as Ukraine’s president but failed. Meanwhile, the situation along the line of contact continued to deteriorate, the number of the Ukrainian military’s shelling attacks increased, leading to civilian casualties.
At a meeting on July 17, members of the Contact Group on resolving the situation in eastern Ukraine managed to reach an agreement and announced that an indefinite ceasefire would take effect in Donbass on July 21. Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Special Representative Martin Sajdik said that the Contact Group has highlighted the need to abandon offensive, reconnaissance and subversive operations, as well as shelling and sniper attacks, the deployment of heavy weapons to settlements and civil infrastructure facilities, including schools, kindergartens, hospitals and public places.