Berlin, Paris Concerned About Growing Number of Ceasefire Violations in Donbas

The foreign ministries of Germany and France expressed concern about the growing number of ceasefire violations in eastern Ukraine, noting that they follow the situation closely.

“We follow the situation closely, especially the movements of Russian troops, and call on the parties to exercise restraint and immediate de-escalation,” reads a joint statement of the foreign ministries of the two countries.

It is noted that official Berlin and Paris emphasise the need to respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders and will continue to hold talks in the Normandy format.

“We welcome the extension of mandate of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine and urge to lift restrictions on its freedom of movement,” the foreign ministries of Germany and France concluded.

As a reminder, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba discussed Russia‘s aggravation of the security situation in Donbas and Crimea and the build-up of Russian troops near Ukraine’s borders with OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden Ann Linde in a phone conversation on Saturday, 3 April.

Meanwhile, the Joint Forces Operation Headquarters reports that Russian-occupation forces launched 10 attacks on Ukrainian soldiers’ positions over the past 24 hours. One serviceman was killed in an unknown explosive device blast.

Bohdan Marusyak