UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) — UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier have agreed that greater efforts are needed to ensure compliance with the Minsk agreements to halt violations to the ceasefire in Ukraine, the United Nations said in a statement.
"The Secretary General and the foreign minister exchanged views on the situation in Ukraine, underlining the need for further progress on implementation of the Minsk agreement[s]," statement said on Tuesday.
As the chairman of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Germany plays a key role in mediating a fragile truce in Ukraine, were separatists in the southeastern regions are seeking greater autonomy or outright independence from the central government in Kiev.
In April 2014, Ukraine launched a military campaign against independence-seeking militias in southeastern Ukraine after the population there rejected the Kiev government bought in by a US-supported coup.
The United Nations estimates the conflict has claimed more than 9,000 lives.
The Minsk agreements were signed in the Belarusian capital following Russian, French and German mediation, first in September 2014 then in February 2015. The agreements call for a ceasefire, removal of heavy weapons from the line of contact as well as constitutional reforms. Both sides frequently report violations of the deal.
