BERLIN
Germany voiced concern on Wednesday over the volatile cease-fire in eastern Ukraine and called on the parties to fully implement the Minsk agreement signed on Feb 12.
“I have to say that the implementation of the Minsk agreement remains unsatisfactory, we are concerned about that. It prevents us to take steps for people who suffer in eastern Ukraine,” German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said at a press conference in Berlin.
He called on all parties to take steps towards the implementation of all the provisions of the Minsk agreement.
“As Chancellor Angela Merkel has repeatedly said, we should move from words to deeds,” Seibert stressed.
- Germany against military support
Asked about British Prime Minister David Cameron’s decision to send troops to Ukraine to train Ukrainian government forces, Seibert declined to comment.
But he emphasized that the German government has not changed its position of supporting a political solution in Ukraine.
He also underlined that a possible contribution of Germany to a military training mission was not on the agenda of the government.
“What remains on our agenda is the implementation of the measures which we have all agreed together in Minsk,” Seibert said.
Despite the cease-fire agreed on Feb. 12, tensions remained high in Debaltseve and Mariupol. Pro-Russian separatists took control of the key railway hub of Debaltseve on Feb. 18 after days of fierce fighting and have been moving to take over the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol since Friday.
Ukraine's defense minister said Wednesday that fighting had decreased significantly on the eastern front and an agreement had been reached with separatists on establishing a line of separation.
A military spokesperson said one Ukrainian soldier had been wounded over the past 24 hours and pro-Russian separatists concentrated in the southeast province of Mariupol had made several attacks.
The agreement signed in Minsk on Feb. 12 called for a complete cease-fire to be effective from midnight on Feb. 15. It also included the withdrawal of all foreign-armed formations and release of all hostages and unlawfully detained persons, as well as political reforms and decentralization in the eastern Ukrainian regions.
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 UN high commissioner for human rights.
