Ukraine

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin have discussed concerns as tensions increase between pro-Russia separatists and Ukrainian forces.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on NATO on Tuesday to lay out a path for Ukraine to join the Western military alliance, after days in which Russia has massed troops near the conflict-hit Donbas region. Zelenskiy’s comments drew an immediate rebuke from Moscow, which said Kyiv’s approach to NATO could further inflame the situation in Donbas, where violence has increased in recent days.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has warned of a “systemic aggravation” of the security situation in the country’s east and the Crimean Peninsula amid a recent spike of violence in the yearslong conflict between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists.

Just 14 hours before it was set to expire, OSCE participating States today extended the mandate of the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) for another year. The decision also included the approval of an approximately 100 million-euro budget for the OSCE’s flagship 730-monitor operation. The SMM will now enter its seventh year of operation.

The decree comes after the Constitutional Court in October struck down some anti-corruption legislation and curbed the powers of the National Anti-Corruption Agency (NAZK). The court decision dealt a blow to reforms demanded by the West and threatened to impact lending from the International Monetary Fund.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says his country has accelerated reforms as it continues to move toward its goal of membership in the European Union and NATO.

72 Normal 0 21 false false false DE X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Normale Tabelle"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Cambria",serif;}

“According to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission's assessments, the commitment to the ceasefire in the conflict zone and the additional measures to strengthen it are overall respected. The number of ceasefire violations continue to remain well below the average level in 2020, before the additional measures came into force. However, since November 2020, there has been a gradual increase in the number of ceasefire violations that, regrettably, negatively affects the civilians in the conflict zone. … “

The Kremlin on Thursday (4 March) urged France and Germany to use their influence with the Ukrainian government to make sure that events in the part of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russian-backed rebels did not “cross a dangerous line”.

Although a ceasefire in Eastern Ukraine has led to a significant decrease in civilian casualties, the overall situation remains fragile unless progress is made on the security and political fronts, the UN’s political affairs chief told the Security Council on Thursday. 

Lower levels of violence have been observed since the additional measures to strengthen the ceasefire entered into force on 27 July 2020, but the ceasefıre is fraying in parallel to the absence of substantial political progress, said Yaşar Halit Çevik, Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine.