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Russia Urged Ukraine to Stick to Minsk Deal

Russia Urged Ukraine to Stick to Minsk Deal
folder_openEurope... access_time9 years ago
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The Defense Ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic [DPR] announced that a total of 3,088 government troops had been killed in the battle for the flashpoint city of Debaltseve in eastern Ukraine.

Russia Urged Ukraine to Stick to Minsk Deal"All in all, 3,048 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in Debaltseve plus another 40," Eduard Basurin, an official with the defense ministry declared.

However, the Ukrainian officials had not made any comment on the claim yet.
The death toll came as the pro-Russia forces and Kiev troops had been battling for Debaltseve, which connects Donetsk and Lugansk, the strongholds of the pro-Russians in eastern Ukraine.

Hence, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko said that 2,475 Ukrainian troops had left Debaltseve and that "around 200 complete units of military hardware were withdrawn from the Debaltseve area".

In an opposing notion though, as requested by President Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine's Security Council agreed to call on the UN and EU to deploy a peacekeeping mission in the war-torn eastern part of the country.
An act that had been considered by Russia as "lack of determination" to carry out what Kiev authorities already agreed on with representatives of the East in Minsk on February 12.

AleksandrTurchinov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine believed peacekeepers should be stationed not only at the "demarcation line" but also along the "uncontrolled" part of the Russian-Ukrainian border, which is now controlled by the self-proclaimed republics.

He further assumed that such deployment would help "observe, and most importantly, to localize the violations, and provide real steps for the peaceful settlement of conflict in Ukraine".

Moreover, the council also approved amendments to a legislative act on martial law as well as to the international military exercise plan proposed by Poroshenko.
Poroshenko added that he believed an "EU police mission" would be the best format for an international presence in Ukraine.
"The best format for us is a police mission from the European Union. We are convinced that this will be the most effective and optimal solution in a situation when promises of peace have not been kept," said Poroshenko.

Then again, Poroshenko's announcement of EU police mission came as a surprise, after a major stumbling block that stood in the way of the implementation of Minsk peace agreements - the encirclement of Ukrainian forces in Debaltseve, which Kiev denied - was partially resolved.

Churkinbelieved that the issue was "a little bit disturbing"; he declared that the the Minsk agreements on February 12 had just been signed and that they "provide for the role of the OSCE; there is nothing about the UN or European Union".
He continued, "So for them to start talking immediately about something else... I think instead of coming up with new ideas they should really work harder on implementing what they agreed on".

Despite sporadic flares of confrontation, the international community mostly agreed that the ceasefire was holding.

According to the 13-point Minsk plan, a ceasefire went into effect on Saturday, and heavy weapons withdrawal was scheduled to be completed before March 1.
The Russian Ambassador to the OSCE, AndreyKelin declared that the OSCE which was monitoring the ceasefire confirmed the pullback of heavy weaponry from the line of contact by Lugansk militia.

Furthermore, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrovalso confirmed that the ceasefire in Ukraine was "being observed along practically the entire frontline and in a few regions there is a readiness - at least the militia announced it publicly - to withdraw heavy weapons."

At the same time, Lavrov noted that the US might still tried to use Debaltseve events as a pretext for further anti-Russia moves, as its latest rhetoric corresponded with Washington's traditional "unconstructive" line on Ukraine.

Nevertheless, Washington admitted the ceasefire in Ukraine was holding, with spokesperson Jen Psakideclared that State Department did not consider it to be "dead."

Meanwhile, the White House was still deciding whether to provide "defensive lethal weapons" to Kiev.
Likewise, spokesman Josh Earnest claimed that both the fighters and Moscow had failed to comply with the terms of ceasefire and "their failure to do so does put them at risk of greater costs."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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