Thirteen steps towards peace and hundreds of hours of political debate in Minsk for the 2.5 million residents of the Donetsk People's Republic still sound like night cannonade from the standpoints of Ukrainian artillery.

On August 1, the conveyance of a collective address of the DPR citizens to the special OSCE Representative in Contact group Martin Sajdik through the plenipotentiary representative of the DPR at negotiations in Minsk, the Chairman of People's Council of the DPR Denis Pushilin took place in Donetsk.

In September it will be two years since signing of the first decision of the Contact group – the Minsk protocol. Two years of struggle at the negotiating table, the signing of the Package of measures and various security documents – all of this was made for the sake of peace in Donbass.

On July 27, the following issues were considered at a meeting of the Contact Group on settlement of the conflict in Donbass: deterioration of the situation on the contact line, pension payments, discussion of modalities of holding local elections, the prisoner exchange and search for missing persons.

On July 26, 2016, a live broadcast within the project "The Main Issue" was held  on the radio “Kometa” with the participation of Deputy Chairman of the DPR People`s Council Olga Makeeva and well-known Donetsk journalist Elena Blokha. The main topic of conversation was the non-fulfillment of Ukraine's commitments to exchange persons who are illegally detained.

On July 26, in the capital of the Donetsk People's Republic convention forum “Strategy of the future” took place.

On July 25, 2016, in the capital of the Donetsk People's Republic, with assistance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the roundtable discussion on the subject “Primaries in the DPR as one of formation’s levers of the democratic state” took place.

On July 24, 2016, the final of the mini-football Championship took place where the teams of the Donetsk People's Republic state structures' employees have taken part. The event was attended by Chairman of the People's Council of the DPR Dennis Pushilin.

On July 21, a round table on introduction of a simplified border crossing for goods was held. At the meeting, the participants discussed the facilitation of customs control and declaration of goods that are imported by business entities into the DPR customs territory.  

On July 19, Parliamentary hearings took place in the Donetsk State Music and Drama Theatre, chaired by Speaker of the People's Council of the DPR Denis Pushilin. More than 700 people took part in the discussion of the situation related to the implementation of the Minsk agreements, which were approved by the UN Security Council Resolution.