Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba said late Thursday that Russia systemically aggravates the security situation in Donetsk and Luhansk regions and in Crimea while refusing to reaffirm its commitment to the ceasefire.
“Russia’s current escalation is systemic, largest in recent years,” Kuleba said and raised concerns about Kremlin’s stance around the long-running conflict in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.
Russia’s actions have brought the situation to a dead end. The only way out is diplomacy.
Minister also said that Moscow must cease escalating military tensions, immediately and unconditionally reaffirm its commitment to political-diplomatic means of resolving the conflict and recommit to ceasefire.
In a statement, Dmytro Kuleba said Ukraine together with Germany and France as Normandy format mediators make everything possible to encourage Russia to engage constructively in negotiations. Our other partners, including the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and NATO also support Russia’s continued engagement in negotiations.
Also added that whatever disinformation Russia may promote now, I would like to assure that Ukraine prioritizes political-diplomatic means of resolving the conflict, because peace and human lives are fundamental values to the Ukrainian state.
Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Ruslan Khomchak said on Tuesday that Russia is building up armed forces near Ukraine’s borders in a threat to the country’s security, accusing Moscow of pursuing an “aggressive policy” towards Kyiv.
In remarks to parliament, Khomchak also accused pro-Moscow separatists of systematically violating a ceasefire in the conflict in eastern Ukraine agreed in July 2020.
On top of that, the U.S. military’s European Command raised its watch level from possible crisis to potential imminent crisis — the highest level — in response to the deployment of the additional Russian troops.