Brussels, 11/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Sunday 10 April, the European Union urged the parties to the conflict in Eastern Ukraine to take measures to defuse the tension. It also urged them to honour their commitments fully, and supported the previous day's call from the special representative of the German government for the OSCE chairmanship, Gernot Erler, asking for the agreements to be respected and the fighting to stop immediately.
In a press release, the spokesperson for High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini stated that “the significant increase of ceasefire violations in the Donetsk region represents an unprecedented level of violence since the sides recommitted to the ceasefire in 2015”. The OSCE also notes the presence of heavy weapons in the conflict zone. “A sustainable ceasefire is urgently needed, not least to ensure progress at last in implementing the political obligations from the Minsk agreements”, Mogherini's spokesperson added. Targeting the OSCE mission monitors is “unacceptable”, Mogherini's spokesperson states, calling on all sides to refrain from such actions. Gunshots were recently fired at a monitor vehicle and a monitor patrol was threatened with a weapon in the separatist region.
Mogherini's spokesperson reiterated that “security on the ground is indispensable for a lasting political solution”. The spokesperson stated that the EU continued to support the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and the diplomatic efforts within the Normandy format and the trilateral contact group aiming at complete implementation of the Minsk agreements.
Elsewhere, after several weeks of rumours, Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk announced on 10 April that he would resign. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)