Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin acknowledged on Aug. 18 that Russia is not meeting conditions needed for an internationally monitored peace and ceasefire in Ukraine's east. Kremlin-backed insurgents have waged war on the nation since mid-April, particularly in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, where violance has claimed more than 2,000 lives.
“The Russian
side today is not ready to take all the commitments…” Klimkin said, including
controlling the Russian-Ukraine border to stop the flow of mercenaries and
military equipment to the Kremlin-backed insurgents in Ukraine. Klimkin said
Russia is also not willing to “recognize the facts” that Ukrainian forces are
being shelled and fired upon from Russia in border areas.
Without such commitments, Klimkin said, observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe cannot work.
Klimkin’s press
conference comes a day after he met in Berlin with three other foreign
ministers, including Russia’s Sergei Lavrov, Germany’s Frank Walter-Steinmeier
and France’s Laurent Fabius.
Klimkin
also said that Western allies have not agreed on a military assistance package
for Ukraine, but said they have not refused to offer one either.
He also
confirmed the Aug. 23 visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Kyiv, a day
before Ukraine celebrates its national independence.
