Brussels, 04/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 4 February, the EU called for a halt to the spiral of violence in Ukraine and for a temporary humanitarian truce to be established.
“The spiral of ever increasing violence in Eastern Ukraine needs to stop”, stated High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini. She joined the call by the OSCE chairperson-in-office on all actors in and around the Debaltseve area to establish “a local temporary truce for a minimum of three days, taking immediate effect”. This would enable the evacuation of civilians who “need to be able to leave the conflict zone safely”. According to Amnesty International, the population of the strategic town of Debaltseve, which is situated 50 km north west of Donetsk, has dropped from 25,000 to 7,000 in a few days.
Mogherini stated that “artillery should immediately be withdrawn from residential areas”, and she added that the shelling of civilians “is a grave violation of international humanitarian law”. In Mogherini's view, the fighting provoked by the continued separatist offensive, notably around Debaltseve, is “causing great human suffering” and “undermines all efforts aimed at a political solution”. The OSCE chairperson-in-office, the Serbian foreign minister, Ivica Dacic, underlined that this truce “should also be used for the immediate resumption of consultations with the aim of obtaining a sustainable ceasefire and full implementation” of the Minsk agreements.
Ambassadors working on sanctions. Elsewhere, discussions on new names to be added to the list of entities threatening or undermining Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity began at Coreper (the committee of permanent representatives from the member states to the EU) on 4 February and were expected to continue on 5 February. According to Radio Free Europe, there would be 19 people to be added to the list (five of whom are reportedly Russian officials), and six or seven entities (mainly separatist combat units). (CG)