Hollande, Merkel call for rapid implementation of Minsk agreement
Hollande said he and Merkel had spoken on the phone with Putin early on Friday afternoon and told him they want to see concrete results from four working groups that were set up on May 6 to deal with political, security, economic and humanitarian issues.
The Kremlin said in a statement that Putin expressed concern in the call over “increasingly frequent shelling by Ukrainian forces of civilian objects that have led to civilian casualties.” It added the leaders exchanged views on potential additional measures that could shore up the fragile ceasefire.
The Kremlin spokesman also said the three discussed a schedule for further expert-level meetings aimed at helping to implement the Minsk agreements.
Hollande and Merkel also want progress on respecting the ceasefire and halting the use of heavy weapons, releasing prisoners and restoring economic relations between the zone controlled by separatists and the rest of Ukraine.
Diplomats and officials from the four countries will meet in Paris on Jun.10 to review progress in the Minsk process, the French statement said.
A Kiev military spokesman said on Friday that one Ukrainian serviceman had been killed and six others wounded in attacks by Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine in the last 24 hours.
‘Very fragile’
Since the mid-February ceasefire, violence in eastern Ukraine has generally abated, but government forces and separatists accuse one another of violations, and both sides report some casualties almost daily.
German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Friday on a trip to Kiev that the situation in Ukraine's separatist east was turning "very fragile".
"We can see that the ceasefire today is very fragile, and this causes some alarms," Steinmeier told reporters after talks with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk.
"There are a lot of ceasefire violations," he said. "Now, we have to think and find a way to turn this into a more stable situation."
Most recently, the heaviest fighting has gripped the eastern outskirts of the strategic pro-Kiev port of Mariupol and the Donetsk International Airport - captured by the insurgents after months of attacks at the start of the year.
"The likelihood that military activities will intensify is high," Ukrainian Defence Minister Stepan Poltorak said.
‘Emerging from crisis’
Despite Ukraine’s ceasefire violations, the financial landscape of the war-torn country appeared on firmer ground as Ukraine's finance minister Natalie Jaresko on Friday said Kiev and its private creditors would launch direct debt restructuring talks next week.
The move could save the country from a devastating default.
A watertight debt relief plan would allow the International Monetary Fund to hand over the next slice of a $17.5-billion loan at the core of a $40-billion global aid package.
“We are slowly but confidently emerging from crisis," Jaresko said, according to Ukrainian news agencies.
Kiev has said that a debt deal and the IMF funds that come with it are essential for the Ukrainian government's survival in the short term.
Ukraine's year-on-year inflation rate reached a staggering 60.9 percent in April and industrial output declined by another 23.4 percent.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, REUTERS)
