Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has warned that, if a bilateral ceasefire does not take effect at midnight on Sunday, Feb. 15, Kyiv will demand that an extraordinary meeting of the European Council be convened.
Meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Feb. 13,
Poroshenko informed him of the outcomes of the Thursday meeting of the
Normandy Quartet leaders in Minsk and a European Council meeting in
Brussels, stressing the importance of a ceasefire agreement, the
Ukrainian presidential press service reported.
Talking about a rocket attack on Artemivsk, in which three locals
were killed, including a 7-year-old child, and the shelling of the
community of Hirnyk from Russian-made rocket launchers on Feb. 13,
Poroshenko said: “Considering what we achieved in Minsk, this is not
only an attack on Ukrainian civilians but also an attack on the Minsk
results.”
“If there is no mutual ceasefire at midnight on Sunday, we will
insist on calling an extraordinary meeting of the European Council,
because Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande represent not only Germany
and France [in negotiations on the Ukraine crisis] but also have a
mandate from all of the EU,” he said.
Poroshenko said he counted on Hungary’s support, to which Orban
replied that he understood the importance of a ceasefire and the
observance of the Minsk agreements.
