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MOSCOW. — Russia’s president Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have discussed the worsening situation in eastern Ukraine.
According to the Kremlin Press service, Merkel called Putin yesterday and the two leaders discussed the worsening humanitarian crisis in eastern Ukraine and emphasised extending Kiev’s one-week ceasefire
“The leaders continued exchanging opinions in the context of international assistance to the settlement of the acute crisis in Ukraine. In particular, Putin and Merkel addressed control over the observance of a ceasefire by the conflicting parties, the need to extend the truce, the arrangement of contact group regular work and the release of persons being held forcibly,” it said.
Following inconclusive talks, a one-week ceasefire proposed by Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko last week is set to expire today.
Earlier in the day, Russia’s upper house of parliament voted in favour of cancelling a resolution allowing President Vladimir Putin to deploy troops to Ukraine. The vote came a day after Putin asked lawmakers to annul a March 1 resolution granting him the right to use troops in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s mainly Russian-speaking parts in the east have been the scene of deadly clashes between pro-Russia activists and the Ukrainian army since Kiev launched military operations in mid-April in a bid to crush the pro-Russia protests.
Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has announced the military alliance’s approval of new funding for Ukraine’s military forces.
Rasmussen made the announcement on Wednesday after the foreign ministers of NATO member states met in Brussels with their Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Klimkin, Russia Today reported.
The funding, which is to come in the form of “trust funds,” is intended to further strengthen the Ukrainian military, though no specific amounts have been allocated yet.
Rasmussen further vowed NATO’s support for Ukrainian president Poroshenko’s peace plan, describing it as “a major step forward.”
During the meeting, the ministers also discussed ways to strengthen NATO’s capacity to assist its partners in need of improved military and security capabilities.
“We agreed that the alliance will provide such support more systematically and more swiftly. We will work on ways to create a pool of military and civilian experts who are ready to deploy when needed and to strengthen co-ordination with other international actors,” Rasmussen said.
In the wake of the Ukrainian crisis, NATO has been using what it describes as the “Russian threat” to justify its build-up of military forces in Central and Eastern Europe.
The development comes as US Secretary of State John Kerry urged NATO back in April to return to its original goal of fending off Russia. — Press TV.
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