Washington has expressed concern about the violation of the Minsk agreements by the Russian side and pro-Russian separatists and urged them to immediately stop attacks on the positions of Ukrainian anti-terrorist operation forces.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said this at a briefing on Tuesday, Ukrinform’s correspondent reported.
“We remain deeply concerned by the intensifying violence in eastern Ukraine. Russian military forces and equipment are still in Ukraine, and the Russia-Ukraine border is still unsecured,” she said.
She noted that since the ceasefire was signed on September 5, attacks on Ukrainian positions and towns, including around the Donetsk airport and the village of Popasna in Luhansk, had “killed and wounded scores of Ukrainian armed forces and civilians and destroyed critical infrastructure.”
In this regard, Psaki said: “We call on Russia and the separatists it backs to immediately end these attacks. We also call on Russia to withdraw all Russian military forces and equipment from inside Ukraine.”
She also said that OSCE monitors were on the ground in Ukraine monitoring and verifying the ceasefire, and ready to further support the implementation of the September 5 Minsk protocol and September 19 Minsk agreement. “Russia must allow them to do their work,” she said.
Psaki said that Ukraine “continues to fulfill its ceasefire commitments and pursue a peaceful resolution of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.” Now, she said, is the time for the Russian authorities and the separatists they back “to immediately implement their obligations under the Minsk agreement they signed.”
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