Athens Concerned Over Fate of 100,000 Ethnic Greeks in Ukraine – Official

Over one hundred thousand of Ukrainians of Greek origin living in southern Ukraine, Greece's Deputy Defense Minister Kostas Isihos told Sputnik.

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Anna Liatsou — Greece is concerned with the future of more than 100,000 ethnic Greeks living in the southeast of Ukraine where "havoc to the civil population" has caused hundreds of thousands of refugees and numerous dead and injured, Greece's Deputy Defense Minister Kostas Isihos told Sputnik in an interview.

"I do stress that we have over one hundred thousand of Ukrainians of Greek origin living in Southern Ukraine," he said.

His words echoed Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias, who initially expressed concern about ethnic Greeks in southeast of Ukraine during his February visit to Moscow.

The city of Mariupol, with a large population of ethnic Greeks in the south-east of Ukraine, was involved in armed confrontations between Kiev forces and Donbas independence fighters in early 2015. The attack on the city resulted in the deaths of dozens of civilians.

Greece is ready to support the Minsk agreements or any other type of equitable agreement that would bring an end to violence in Ukraine, Isihos said.

"The crisis needs to have a humanitarian approach and Greece is prepared to help in any way we can as a country in the region," he added.

The most recent Minsk talks on Ukrainian reconciliation in February resulted in a number of agreements aimed at deescalating tensions in the country. Nevertheless both sides of the conflict are blaming each other for violation of the terms of the ceasefire deal.