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UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Top officials of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Ukraine said Friday the country is at a crossroads between war and peace.
Ertugrul Apakan, head of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, told the U.N. Security Council that in recent days combat operations have been significantly reduced across the conflict zone in the east, and some heavy weapons have been withdrawn.
But he said there has still been some firing around Donetsk Airport — recently seized by Russian-backed separatists — and the government-controlled southeastern port of Mariupol.
Heidi Tagliavini, the OSCE's lead figure at talks on the latest cease-fire and peace process, said the current moment "may become a tipping point in the Ukraine conflict."
"We seem to be at the crossroads where we are facing the risk of a further escalation of the conflict or where common sense, responsibility and humanity shall prevail, and we may be able to walk on the road to peace," she said. "We are actively engaged in a de-escalation which hopefully may become an irreversible process."
Both Apakan, a Turkish ambassador, and Tagliavini, a Swiss diplomat, spoke to the Security Council by videoconference from Ukraine's capital, Kiev.
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