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UN chief urges all parties to end violence in eastern Ukraine

02 July 2014 03:00 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon renewed his call on all sides in Ukraine to "not give up the idea of a functioning ceasefire and work toward a definitive cessation of violence through a continued political and diplomatic process," a UN spokesman said here Tuesday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"The secretary-general is following with grave concern reports of renewed fighting in eastern Ukraine," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing in response to a press question.

Earlier Tuesday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said in the capital of Kiev that he had ordered a resumption of military efforts to crush rebels in eastern Ukraine, formally ending a fragile ceasefire which expired on Monday night. He said that he made the decision because the rebels had refused to put down their arms and persisted in attacking government troops.

Dujarric said that the UN chief "is extremely disappointed that the unilateral ceasefire declared by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko never achieved the momentum needed to end the violence. "

"The secretary-general reiterates that a continuation of hostilities can only further exacerbate an already precarious situation," he said. "He strongly condemns the persistent unlawful violence at the hands of armed militia groups and enjoins them to lay down their weapons and express their grievances peacefully and in accordance with international law.

Poroshenko also said on the day that he would be ready to resume the ceasefire if all sides observed provisions of his peace plan. He blamed leaders of the insurgent forces in eastern Ukraine for disrupting the ceasefire, saying they had showed " unwillingness to fully support the peace plan as well as the truce. " He once again called on the insurgents to lay down arms.

The Ukrainian president announced the week-long unilateral ceasefire on June 21 to seek a peaceful solution to the conflict, and later extended it to June 30. However, the insurgents in the largely Russian-speaking eastern part of Ukraine had allegedly continued their attacks on government troops during the ceasefire.