Earlier on Sunday, OSCE monitoring mission chief Ertugrul Apakan said the Donetsk militia barred the monitors from visiting the town of Debaltseve, where several thousand Ukrainian troops remain surrounded by pro-independence forces.
"Prior to the meeting… with the OSCE, which took place in the second half of the day [Sunday], I personally, as an authorized representative [of DPR], received no requests from OSCE to visit Debaltseve area," Denis Pushilin said.
He asserted that the monitors could have been denied entrance to the area due to security reasons.
On Saturday, the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko, said that all attempts of Ukrainian soldiers to leave the encirclement will be stopped.
The truce deal between the Ukrainian troops and pro-independence forces in Donbas was worked out by the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine on February 12 during 16-hour peace talks in Minsk, the capital of Belarus.
