Brussels, 04/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 4 June, the European Union criticised the violent fighting around the town of Maryinka, near Donetsk, in Eastern Ukraine, describing it as “the most serious violation of the ceasefire under the Minsk agreement since February”.
The fighting has claimed at least 26 lives in 24 hours - including civilians. On Wednesday 3 June, the Ukrainian government accused the pro-Russian separatists of having launched this offensive - which the separatists deny.
“Renewed intense fighting risks unleashing a new spiral of violence and human suffering”, said Maja Kocijancic, the spokesperson for High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini. Kocijancic stated that this escalation in violence followed the “movement of a large amount of heavy weapons towards the contact line by the Russia-backed separatists, as reported by the OSCE [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] Special Monitoring Mission”.
In a report published during the evening of Wednesday 3 June, the OSCE mission stated that “fighting had broken out around the town controlled by the government of Maryinka” and that the mission had observed “the movement of a large amount of heavy weapons in the territories controlled by the People's Republic of Donetsk, generally towards the West of the front line, near Maryinka, before and during the fighting”. According to the mission, calm was restored in the early evening.
Kocijancic reiterated that the ceasefire must be fully respected and heavy weapons withdrawn from the front line and “kept in the storage sites open to regular checks” by the OSCE monitors. “The implementation of the Minsk agreements, to which all the parties have declared their commitment, can only succeed on the basis of such a ceasefire, the definitive withdrawal of heavy weapons and regular follow-up and checks”, she added.
Ukraine calls for further sanctions. Ukraine's ambassador to the EU, Kostiantyn Yelisieiev, has called for the sanctions against Russia to be strengthened. In his view, since the Debaltseve attack, this is the first time that the Minsk agreements are on the brink of complete collapse. The attack on Maryinka must also be the deciding element for sectoral sanctions to be strengthened against Moscow, says a statement published on the website of the Ukrainian mission to the EU. In the context of the next G7 summit (7-8 June), of the EU Foreign Affairs Council (22 June) and of the European Council (25-26 June), the ambassador urged the EU to take immediate measures to support the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, in particular by accelerating the pressure of sanctions on Moscow in order to motivate it to fulfil its obligations, the statement says.
The March European Council gave its agreement in principle to maintain the sanctions. The European Council of 25-26 June could therefore be the opportunity to extend them until December, or the time when all the arrangements of the Minsk agreements have been implemented (see EUROPE 11279). (Camille-Cerise Gessant)