German
Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin have called for
increased peace efforts in Ukraine. Three months of fighting in the country's
restive east have claimed more than 550 lives so far.
Deutsche Welle, 13 Juky 2014
Meeting in
Rio de Janeiro ahead of the World Cup final, the German chancellor and Russian
president said Ukraine's conflict "has a tendency towards
degradation," according to a spokesman. Merkel has urged Putin to
influence separatists to help end the fighting that has killed hundreds in
eastern Ukraine.
"Both
Putin and Merkel stressed the necessity to urgently resume the work of a
contact group on Ukraine, possibly in the format of a video conference,"
said Dmitry Peskov, the Russian president's spokesman. "It is their common
opinion that, in order for the contact group to resume its work, a ceasefire
needs to be declared as soon as possible."
German
officials have consistently tried to help bring an end to the fighting in Ukraine. Numerous efforts to restore a ceasefire in place earlier in July have proved fruitless.
Because of
the fighting at home, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko canceled his
attendance at the World Cup, where he could possibly have spoken face to face
with Putin, watching the Germany-Argentina match as part of a handover
ceremony. Russia will host the next FIFA World Cup, in 2018.
'An
aggressive act'
Russia's
Foreign Ministry has accused Ukraine of letting an errant shell hit a bordertown, killing one person and injuring two others. According to the
ministry, the shell hit the courtyard of a residential building in Donetsk,
Russia - near the Ukrainian city of the same name that has become a separatist stronghold - early on Sunday. Ukrainian officials have denied that the military
fired a shell into Russian territory.
Despite the
denial, the Foreign Ministry issued a statement calling the incident "an
aggressive act by the Ukrainian side against sovereign Russian territory and
the citizens of the Russian Federation." The statement also warned of the
possibility of "irreversible consequences, the responsibility for which
lies on the Ukrainian side."
It is not
clear who fired the shell. Russia has repeatedly claimed that Ukrainian fire
has hit settlements along the border, but no deaths have been previously
reported.
Clashes
between separatists and Ukrainian forces have escalated, with at least 18
troops and 20 civilians killed in the past two days. According to the Defense
Ministry, Ukrainian forces have killed as many as 40 separatists in airstrikes
over the weekend.
Amnesty
International has reported abduction and torture in the conflict.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.