KYIV (Reuters – Ukrainian, Russian and OSCE negotiators reached an agreement to resume a cease fire between separatists in eastern Ukraine and Russia-backed government forces, according to the OSCE on Wednesday.

“I was delighted that participants expressed their strong determination to fully adhere to the Measures to Strengthen the Ceasefire agreement of 22 July 2020,” the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), Ambassador Mikko Kinnunen said in a statement.

In recent months, Moscow and Kyiv have been blaming each other for violating a ceasefire that was reached in July 2020. This agreement helped to significantly decrease the death toll last year.

Kinnunen declared that the “new agreement” is crucial for both the parties to the contact line.

According to him, the security situation on the contact line was volatile according to special monitoring mission reports. December 2021 saw five times as many ceasefire violations per day than December 2020.

Major fighting between Ukrainian troops, Russian-backed forces and their allies ended in Minsk (Belarus) in 2015. However, sporadic clashes continue to kill soldiers and civilians in an ongoing military conflict that has been going on since 2014.