MINSK, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) on Wednesday urged conflicting parties in Ukraine to improve the throughput capacity of checkpoints in the country's eastern region of Donbas.
Martin Sajdik, the OSCE's special envoy to Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on Ukraine, addressed that following a TCG meeting in Minsk, where a group of representatives from Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE came together to facilitate a diplomatic solution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Since April 2014, an armed conflict between government troops and pro-independence insurgents has been underway in Ukraine's eastern region of Donbas.
Sajdik called on the conflicting parties to take urgent measures to improve the throughput capacity of checkpoints located along the line of contact as the constant traffic increase through the existing checkpoints.
Sajdik said that he had repeatedly said last year the number of victims was reduced to the lowest level since the beginning of the conflict, a trend that continues this year.
Unfortunately, a few days ago, a minibus hit an explosive device on the road at the checkpoint in the Donetsk region, southwest part of the Donbas region, in which two people died and one was injured.
Sajdik stressed that this incident reaffirms the importance of mine clearance, particularly along the roads around the checkpoints.
The next meeting of the TCG is scheduled for March 13.
