The situation in eastern Ukraine starts to resemble a “frozen conflict”, OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier stated at the UN headquarters, reports “TASS”.

Zannier pointed to the shaping of “official” institutions in the self-styled republics in the east of Ukraine: “We see local police, with local uniforms, with emblems that remind us in some way some of the things we have seen in other that we call in OSCE ‘frozen conflicts,’" Zannier told reporters at the United Nations. Secretary General added, that “progressive development of local structures” stalls political cooperation.

However, Zannier noted, that armed conflict is still in progress. He informed, that OSCE Special Monitoring Mission is putting in additional efforts in order to control the situation, first of all, along the line of contact: “We’ve opened additional observation points. We also intend to increase presence in territories held by separatists, but, there, we face resistance”.

He also mentioned, that the Mission intends to increase the number of observers in Ukraine by 100 people up to 800.