On Monday 28 August, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and France's President Emmanuel Macron urged the Russian and Ukrainian presidents, Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko respectively, to uphold their commitments in the Minsk agreements.
In a joint statement, Merkel and Macron say: "We urge President Putin and President Poroshenko to fully abide by their commitments, publicly endorse the ceasefire and ensure that proper instructions have been passed on to the military and forces deployed on the ground". A ceasefire decided upon on 23 August by the trilateral Contact Group and supported by the Normandy format (Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France) the previous day (see EUROPE 11846) only held for a few minutes, with the Ukrainians and rebels both blaming each other. "There is still a large number of ceasefire violations, including with the use of heavy weapons", Merkel and Macron regretted.
"We encourage greater cooperation within the JCCC (Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination) to address ongoing fighting, and call on all parties to provide safe and unimpeded access to the (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM)", Merkel and Macron regretted, as the mission staff still face threats and restrictions on movement, particularly in rebel-held areas.
Merkel and Macron stated that they would continue to monitor the situation closely "in the coming days". (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)