Washington concerned by sharp increase in Donbas attacks, blames Russia and militants

10:26, 18.08.2015 1 min read

The U.S. authorities are concerned by unstoppable armed clashes occurred in the east of Ukraine, in which they blame separatists and Russia, U.S. Department of State spokesperson John Kirby said.

"We are gravely concerned by the sharp increase in attacks by combined Russian-separatist forces across the ceasefire line in eastern Ukraine," he said at a Monday briefing adding that last weekend the attacks occurred to the east and north of Mariupol, "apparently in an attempt to threaten that city."

"There can be no mistake about who is responsible: Russia and the separatists are launching these attacks, just as they escalated the conflict last August," he added.

According to Kirby, the OSCE monitors confirm that the majority of ceasefire violations were committed by combined Russian separatist forces in direct violation of the Minsk agreements.

"We continue to urge an immediate ceasefire and full implementation of the Minsk obligations, and we further remind that efforts by Russia and the separatists to grab more territory will be met with further costs," the spokesperson stressed.