Ukraine, EU to react to ceasefire violations: Poroshenko
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says Kiev and its EU allies have agreed on a prompt reaction in the event of any violation of the truce deal recently signed in Minsk, Belarus.
“Together with the EU leaders we agreed… on an extremely fast reaction in the event of further violation of the Minsk agreements, concerning ceasefire and removal of heavy weapons,” Poroshenko said in the Ukrainian capital city of Kiev on Thursday.
The Ukrainian president also said he agreed with EU leaders to remove troops from the flashpoint city of Debaltseve in accordance with the Minsk ceasefire deal.
Poroshenko, however, ruled out the participation of Russian representatives in any possible peacekeeping mission in the future, labeling Russia as an aggressor country.
Battle for Debaltseve
Pro-Russian forces captured the eastern Ukrainian city of Debaltseve on Wednesday after battles lasting for weeks.
The new clashes came despite a ceasefire deal recently inked between the warring sides in eastern Ukraine.
However, the pro-Russian forces say Debaltseve is not covered by the agreement.
Peacekeeping force in Ukraine
Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Lamberto Zannier has recently called for an international peacekeeping force composed of some 400 observers in Ukraine.
The OSCE chief expressed concern over the rising death toll among civilians, calling on Russia to take decisive steps toward a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin accused Kiev of seeking to “destroy” the ceasefire agreement by calling for the deployment of UN-mandated peacekeepers to eastern Ukraine to enforce the ceasefire deal.
The new deal, endorsed by the leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine last week, called for an immediate ceasefire and a withdrawal of heavy armaments as the initial steps toward a political settlement of the Ukrainian conflict.
Nearly 5,700 people have been killed and close to a million have been displaced since the armed conflict began in eastern Ukraine in April 2014.
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