MOSCOW, November 6 (RIA Novosti) — President Vladimir Putin on Thursday discussed with members of Russia's Security Council a sharp deterioration of the situation in eastern Ukraine caught in a standoff between Kiev-led forces and Donbas militia.
Authorities in self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics have reported Kiev's increased military activity on the separation line between the warring sides in recent days in a serious breach of the Minsk ceasefire agreements.
"The participants of the meeting discussed domestic social and economic issues, as well as international affairs, especially the deterioration of the situation in Donbas in light of numerous violations of the ceasefire regime by Ukrainian government troops," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Peskov did not specify whether any decisions on the current situation in Ukraine have been made.
Following a February coup in Kiev, residents of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine established people's republics that later declared independence. An armed conflict started in eastern Ukraine in mid-April, when Kiev launched a military operation against independence supporters that led to a desperate humanitarian situation in the region.
A ceasefire was agreed upon at a meeting of the so-called Contact Group on Ukraine held in Minsk on September 5. Another meeting of the Contact Group on September 19 resulted in a memorandum, specifying the implementation of the ceasefire. Since the establishment of the truce, the sides have been routinely accusing each other of violations.
On Sunday the self-proclaimed republics held local elections that were not recognized by the Ukrainian central authorities.
The leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic announced earlier on Thursday that a full-scale military action in eastern Ukraine had been de-facto resumed by Kiev.
