BERLIN/MOSCOW
Russia has accused the Ukrainian government of provoking recent tensions in eastern Ukraine, while Germany blamed pro-Russian separatists for violating the ceasefire.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in a telephone conversation on Wednesday that the Ukrainian government forces recent activities in Debaltseve had been provocative.
According to a Russian Foreign Ministry statement, Lavrov told Steinmeier: "The worsening situation here is due to the attempts of the Ukrainian security forces trying to break through the encirclement inside and outside the Debaltseve cauldron, which of course, provoked a response from the militias."
Pro-Russian separatists took the control of the key railway hub of Debaltseve on Wednesday after days of fierce fighting, despite a ceasefire agreed in Minsk being scheduled to begin last Sunday.
- Troops withdrawn
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko confirmed on Wednesday that, after days of fighting, that Debaltseve was in separatist hands after 80 percent of the 8,000 Ukrainian government troops there had withdrawn from the town.
German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer told journalists in Berlin on Wednesday that Steinmeier had conveyed to his Russian counterpart the growing concern over the escalation of violence in the region.
“We have conveyed to the Russian side our expectation from Moscow to use its influence on the separatists,” Schaefer said, adding that the military actions of the separatists in Debaltseve constituted a violation of the Minsk agreements.
Despite the hard-won cease-fire agreed after marathon talks between the leaders of Germany, Ukraine, Russia and France in Minsk last Thursday, separatist leaders continued their military assault on Debaltseve, claiming that it was their own territory and not covered by the agreement.
- Ukraine 'deliberately destabilized'
German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said no place in eastern Ukraine had been excluded from the cease-fire deal.
"Further escalation of violence in the region can make it necessary for the EU to take new measures," he said.
European leaders accuse Russia of supporting the conflict with providing arms and ammunition to the separatists, while Russia says the U.S. and EU have deliberately destabilized Ukraine to expand the west's military presence in Eastern Europe through NATO.
More than 5,300 people have been killed and 12,200 others injured in eastern Ukraine since mid-April last year in the ongoing conflict, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.
