MINSK, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) urged conflicting parties in Ukraine to immediately begin demining, a special representative said on Tuesday.
Martin Sajdik, the OSCE's special representative in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on Ukraine and Ertugrul Apakan, the head of the OSCE special monitoring mission to Ukraine passed a joint statement, which called on the conflicting sides to start the immediate and complete humanitarian demining of settlements and checkpoints.
Sajdik said that three children were killed and one injured by a mine near Gorlovka on Sept. 30.
Unfortunately, too many of these cases have occurred and are happening as a result of the ongoing conflict, accompanied by the indiscriminate placement of mines and similar explosive devices along the contact line, the statement said.
The statement reminds that under the Minsk agreements both sides have undertaken to clear mines.
The next meeting of the TCG on Ukraine will take place on Oct. 16.
The TCG is a group of representatives from Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE that was formed to facilitate a diplomatic solution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
