Ukrainian justice minister urges opposition to stop escalating conflict, start talks

17:06, 18.02.2014 1 min read

Olena Lukash, the Ukrainian justice minister and member of a working group on settling the political crisis, has accused the opposition of violating agreements reached at negotiations and called on it to immediately stop the armed standoff.

"The protest, which the opposition announced as a peaceful action only yesterday, started with the extremists' open armed confrontation. The opposition has ignored Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's and European Union, U.S. and Russian leaders' calls for settling the conflict peacefully," Lukash said in a statement posted on the presidential website on Tuesday.

"The opposition leaders are personally responsible for the new phase of the standoff's exacerbation. Their actions have endangered Ukraine's civilian peace and future," she said.

Lukash called on the opposition on behalf of the working group to immediately stop the escalation of the conflict and armed confrontation and sit at the negotiating table.