War in Donbass

Russia expressed opposition to the earlier proposal of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko for the deployment of UN peacekeepers or EU police mission in order to enforce the Minsk ceasefire.

Poroshenko announced on Wednesday that Ukraine was planning to appeal to the UN and EU to deploy peacekeeping and security operation to the country.

BELGRADE, VIENNA - Chairperson-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Serbia's First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic, has welcomed the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2202, stressing the need for full and unconditional compliance by all signatories of the Minsk Document with the comprehensive ceasefire agreed in

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande brokered a truce between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Feb. 12 in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, to subdue the bloodshed in eastern Ukraine. After intense and acrimonious negotiations, the four leaders agreed on a deal that came into effect in the early hours of Feb. 15.

NATO on Wednesday urged Russia to withdraw all forces from eastern Ukraine and to end  its support for the pro-Moscow separatists as a ceasefire appeared to unravel.
      

Government forces started pulling out of a town in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday after a fierce assault by Russian-backed separatists which Europe said violated a crumbling ceasefire.
    

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko demanded of German Chancellor Angela Merkel over the phone a “tough reaction” from the West against Russia.

The ceasefire was agreed last week in Minsk.

However, according to the Ukrainian President, Russia Rebels are responsible of the broken ceasefire.

Serbian FM, in his OSCE role, "calls for restraint"

BELGRADE -- Ivica Dacic has "strongly urged all sides to refrain from any action that might endanger the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine that came into effect on February 15."

Serbia's foreign minister made the statement in his capacity as chairman-in-office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

BELGRADE - The Chairman-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Serbia's foreign minister Ivica Dacic, has strongly urged all sides to refrain from any action that might endanger the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine that came into effect on February 15, 2015.

Ukraine: Fighting continues in Debaltsevo

The Ukrainian army has announced that during the night "not a single shot was fired" in the territory of the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Lugansk.

The leaders of Russia, Germany and Ukraine have agreed on "concrete measures" to allow OSCE observers to monitor the shaky ceasefire in Ukraine, Berlin announced on Feb. 17.