EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini has promised parliamentarians, representatives of the government sector to visit Donbas military zone during her next visit to Ukraine, deputy head of the committee on European integration MP from Petro Poroshenko Bloc Maria Ionova has said.
“The high representative promised to visit Donbas military zone during her next visit. We very much hope that this will be planned before the end of the mandate,” Ionova wrote on her Facebook page on Monday morning.
She also said that during a meeting with Mogherini on Sunday, the Ukrainian side informed her about the situation in Donbas.
“Moscow continues ignoring the implementation of the Minsk agreements. The flagrant violations of human rights in Donbas and Crimea called for more attention to this issue. The hostages issue both in Donbas and in the Russian Federation and in Crimea was raised. We also asked to meet with hostages and their families,” Ionova said.
According to the Ukrainian parliamentarian, the issue of EU sanctions against the Russian Federation remains unchanged, however, the deputies at the meeting “expressed hope for strengthening the EU’s sanctions policy towards the Russian Federation and expanding personal sanctions by including in the sanctions lists organizers of the Russian presidential elections in Crimea.”
“The Crimean issue has been sharply raised. It should occupy a separate place in the agenda of Ukraine’s relations with the EU and its member states, especially now, on the eve of the Russian presidential elections, which will be held illegally in Ukraine, namely in Crimea,” she said.
Ionova also informed that at the meeting the parties discussed the agenda of reforms in Ukraine in the context of the implementation of the Association Agreement. The parliamentarians told Mogerini about the joint work with the Cabinet of Ministers and about the presentation of the “road map” of priority bills in the field of European integration of Ukraine.
Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine’s foreign affairs committee Hanna Hopko, MP Mustafa Nayyem, Ukraine’s representative in the political subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) for the settlement of the situation in Donbas, coordinator of election programs at the Opora Civil Network, Olha Aivazovska, representatives of the executive branch of power were present at the meeting, Ionova told the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini will meet with President Petro Poroshenko, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin and Minister for Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons Vadym Chernysh during her working visit to Ukraine on March 11-12.
In addition, the High Representative will meet with Ambassador Ertugrul Apakan, the Chief Monitor of the OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission, Martin Sajdik, the OSCE’s Special Representative to the Trilateral Contact Group, and Alain Aeschlimann, Head of the Mission to Ukraine of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to address the situation on the ground and the implementation of the Minsk agreements.
While in Kyiv, the High Representative will also speak to students at the Taras Shevchenko University, meet with representatives of civil society organizations, and with members of staff of the European Union’s Advisory Mission and the EU Delegation to Ukraine.
The report notes that the visit will take place a few days before the fourth anniversary of the illegal annexation by the Russian Federation of Crimea and Sevastopol, which the European Union does not recognize as it continues to fully support Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence.
