Kyiv, February 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Belgium MEP (European Conservatives and Reformists Group), Member of Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Cooperation Committee Mark Demesmaeker has said he supports an investigation being launched into the militants' attack on anti-terrorist operation (ATO) forces while they were withdrawing from Debaltseve on February 18, and increasing sanctions against Russia.

At a Thursday press conference held at Interfax-Ukraine, he said he visited the ATO zone with a group of volunteers to see Ukrainian troops withdrawing from Debaltseve and to talk to some of them.

We're always discussing the situation in Ukraine in the European Parliament, and this was an opportunity to see the actual situation in the ATO zone. On Wednesday, we had an opportunity to talk to Ukrainian servicemen leaving Debaltseve, Demesmaeker said.

To me it's obvious that they were under constant fire after the ceasefire had been announced. They were under fire even when leaving Debaltseve: the militants were trying to kill as many men as possible. This is a direct violation of international norms. These facts must be investigated. Those guilty must be punished in international courts. There were a lot of wounded and dead, who couldn't have been brought along at once, MEP noted.

Pro-Russian militants used the ceasefire to concentrate large forces near Debaltseve, he added.

Demesmaeker said he supports recognizing the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR) as terrorist organization and increasing sanctions against Russia.

Russian forces are present in the ATO zone. We must recognize the DPR and LPR as terrorist organizations. We must stop Russia, possibly by enhancing current sanctions or immediately blocking Russia from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), he said.

MEP noted that Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine was accompanied by a powerful propaganda.

We must develop new ways of fighting back, as Russia's using new war methods, particularly propaganda. It's a threat not only to Ukraine, but to the rest of the world as well. Russian propaganda is very strong, it poisons Russian and partially poisons Ukrainian and European societies, he said.

According to Demesmaeker, the de-escalation of the current situation in eastern Ukraine depends on the Kremlin.

Moscow is the where the key to peace in eastern Ukraine must be found. But simultaneously, we must help Ukraine defend itself. We must do everything to boost Ukraine's defense capability, as this is possibly the only way to stop such actions against the country, the MEP added.