Poland’s chief diplomat began his visit to Ukraine by laying flowers at the Memory Wall of Fallen Defenders of Ukraine. Next, he spoke with Ukraine’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba. During their meeting, OSCE Chairman-in-Office Mr. Rau and Minister Kuleba focused on a de-escalation of tensions in and around Ukraine and on improving the humanitarian situation of the communities affected by conflicts. He stressed the necessity to reach balanced and peaceful solutions by means of all available formats, including the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG). Reiterating the Chairmanship’s support, Minister Rau emphasised that the Minsk agreements must be fully implemented.

- My first visit to Ukraine as the Chairman-in-Office is a firm expression of the Polish Chairmanship’s prime concern with supporting efforts to arrive at a peaceful solution to the crisis and bring it to an end -said Minister Rau.

After that, OSCE Chairman-in-Office met with OSCE representatives to Ukraine, namely Ambassador Yaşar H. Çevik, Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine; Ambassador Mikko Kinnunen, Special Representative of the Chairman-in-Office in Ukraine and in the TCG; and Ambassador Henrik Villadsen, OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine. During those meetings, Minister Rau expressed full support of the work of the TCG and the SMM and voiced concern over the inadmissible restrictions on the freedom of movement for observers, especially in Ukraine’s non-government-controlled areas. He pointed out that the persisting challenges effectively obstruct the Mission’s fulfillment of its mandate.

- As the OSCE Chair, Poland is really looking forward to your support in seeking to de-escalate tensions and improve living conditions for the population affected by the conflict. We can achieve this also by ensuring the SMM observers’ unrestricted and safe access to the entire territory of Ukraine, including the area beyond the control of the Ukrainian government, as provided for in the Minsk agreements and the Common Agreed Conclusions of the Normandy Summit of 9 December 2019 - said Minister Rau.

He then held a meeting with the representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Ukraine Florence Gillette, and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk. The meeting with Mrs. Gillette was an opportunity to express gratitude for providing humanitarian aid in hard-to-reach locations within conflict-affected areas, and Poland’s long-standing effective cooperation with the ICRC in Ukraine. Deputy Prime Minister Vereshchuk discussed with Minister Rau the negative effects of the conflict on the civil population and possible forms of support.

After the meetings, Minister Rau went to Kharkiv where on the next day he paid a visit at the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission’s Monitoring Centre. Next, he observed the cybersecurity training of combating cybercrime “Development and Implementation of Information Security Management System (ISMS)” organised by the OSCE for the Ukrainian police.

Minister Rau ended the visit with the meeting with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. They discussed the security situation in the region and emphasised the need to de-escalate the tension between Ukraine and Russia. To do so, it is inevitable to use all the instruments available to the OSCE. In relation to the conflict lasting from 2014, interlocutors accentuated the utmost necessity to support the civil population who suffers from the conflict.

The next destination of Minister Rau will be Moscow on Monday.

 

 

Photo: Sebastian Indra / MFA
 

Łukasz Jasina
MFA Press Spokesperson