Poroshenko to hold talks with allies as Ukraine clashes rage on
The Ukrainian president says he will speak with the leaders of the US, France and Germany as clashes rage on in eastern Ukraine ahead of an agreed ceasefire.
On Saturday, Petro Poroshenko said he will hold phone calls with French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at 1500 GMT and with US President Barack Obama two hours later in a bid to discuss the intensification of clashes in eastern Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president also threatened to impose martial law if the fighting does not show signs of abatement.
“If there is no peace, we would have to make a very hard but necessary decision on imposing martial law. I stress once again: in this case martial law will be imposed not only on Donetsk and Luhansk but also on the entire country," Poroshenko warned.
East Ukraine ceasefire deal
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko were in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, on February 11-12, for marathon talks over a ceasefire deal.
The negotiating sides agreed on the withdrawal of heavy weapons from Ukraine’s front lines and a ceasefire to begin from February 15.
Back in September 2014, representatives of Ukraine, Russia, and the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk signed another ceasefire deal in the same city. However, the truce was violated on an almost daily basis by both the Ukrainian military and pro-Russia forces and thus failed to bear any practical result.
Source of conflict
Donetsk and Luhansk are two mainly Russian-speaking regions in eastern Ukraine, which have been hit by deadly clashes between pro-Russia forces and the Ukrainian army since Kiev launched military operations in April last year to crush the pro-Russians.
In May 2014, the situation in the two flashpoint regions started to worsen as residents overwhelmingly voted for independence from Ukraine and joining the Russian Federation in a referendum.
The fighting has taken a heavy toll on thousands of people. More than 5,500 people have died and some 12,200 wounded in the conflict, the UN says. Around 1.5 million people have been also forced from their homes over the past months of turmoil.
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