Putin’s Crimea visit aims to stir up Ukraine conflict: Poroshenko

Ukrainian officials reported two civilian deaths on their side, in a suburb of Mariupol on the Black Sea.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies stressed the need for all sides to “de-escalate tensions and exercise restraint” while calling for “full implementation” of the peace accords reached in Minsk in February.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday expressed serious alarm over the upsurge in fighting in Ukraine and called for urgent steps to de-escalate the violence, AFP reports.

Russia, which has been accused by Kyiv and the West of sending troops and weapons across the border to fuel the insurgency, on Monday turned the spotlight on Kyiv, warning that Ukraine could be readying for fresh fighting. In April, Israeli defense officials told the Israeli news site NRG that Israel may respond by selling arms to Ukraine and Georgia.

Nevertheless, despite a September 2014 cease-fire agreed in Minsk, the fighting has since continuously deteriorated, with serious consequences for the country’s unity, territorial integrity and stability.

Putin, on a visit to Russia-annexed Crimea, claimed Ukrainian troops and hardware are massing in the southeast. The Ukrainian military units stationed in the area, which apparently included volunteer units, beat back the offensive within hours, and even counterattacked before returning to their positions.

Last year, on August 26, 2014, President Petro Poroshenko met with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Minsk for the second time since Mr. Poroshenko took office in June 2014.

After the nationalist-driven armed coup in Kiev past year, the secession of predominantly-Russian Crimea and the uprising of rebel forces in the East, many of whom are ethnic Russians, the nationalist agenda was pushed to the top of political discourse in Ukraine.

“We are concerned by the course of events in recent days which very strongly resembles the preparation for more military action”, Lavrov said at a briefing in Moscow.

The mayor of the rebel-held town of Horlivka, north of Donetsk city, said heavy Ukrainian shelling had killed three civilians and injured four others.

The militias have been trying to seize a road linking their de facto capital Donetsk with Mariupol – a southeastern port held by the government and responsible for exporting much of the industrial region’s factory output.

The leaders of France, Germany and Ukraine are to meet in Berlin on Monday in a bid to bring an end to a new wave of violence in Ukraine, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said.