Kiev: As the situation in eastern Ukraine refuses to cool down despite an agreed ceasefire in effect, Germany's foreign affairs has reportedly blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin to be "personally responsible" for the crisis in the eastern region of the ex-Soviet bloc, said Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council in a tweet.
German foreign affairs leadership says Putin is personally responsible for conflict in eastern Ukraine
— NSDC of Ukraine (@NSDC_ua) February 19, 2015
The tweet by Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council came on Thursday as leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France, held talks over a phone call on the urgency to implement the Minsk accords.
The leaders talked a day after the Ukrainian troops were forced to withdraw from the strategic town of Debaltseve after the pro-Russian rebels took control.
Russian leader Putin had warned Ukrainian troops there to surrender in order to save their lives, saying, "I hope that the Ukrainian authorities are not going to prevent the Ukrainian soldiers from laying down their weapons."
Meanwhile, Russia has objected to Ukraine's plan of requesting the presence of an international peacekeeping force in eastern Ukraine to observe the ceasefire.
Calling Ukraine's demand as a destructive move, Russia’s Permanent Representative at the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said that the new initiative by Kiev punches holes in its commitment to abide by the terms of the Minsk agreement.
"The Minsk agreements have just been reached. In line with these agreements, the Donetsk and Luhansk republics can set up their own militias and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is tasked to monitor the zone of disengagement," Churkin said according to a report in Russian media.
Ukraine had on Wednesday decided to ask for a “police mission from the European Union” in Ukraine to monitor the ceasefire.
Ukraine wants the peacekeepers to be deployed not only along the line of engagement in the conflict zone but also along the section of Ukraine’s border with Russia that was not controlled by the Kiev authorities, reports said.
