MILAN, August 30 (RIA Novosti) – EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Saturday that the European Union needs a sustainable political solution to the Ukrainian crisis that respects Ukraine's territorial integrity.
“We need a sustainable political solution that respects Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty,” Ashton told reporters following the informal talks between EU foreign ministers in Milan.
"All ministers expressed deep concern about the recent aggression by regular Russian forces… They were very clear that there is no military solution,” the EU's foreign policy chief said.
Ashton added that she will have talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Brussels later in the day.
On Saturday, the European Council gathers in Brussels to appoint senior positions and discuss the situation in Ukraine.
Since mid-April, Kiev has been conducting a military operation against the southeastern regions of Ukraine that refused to recognize the legitimacy of the new government after a February coup.
The West has repeatedly accused Russia of building up forces on its border with eastern Ukraine and supplying independence supporters with weapons, a claim Moscow has rejected.
Over 2,500 people, including the victims of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash, have been killed and more than 6,000 injured since the start of Kiev’s military operation in eastern Ukraine, according to the United Nations.
