Ukrainian experts have announced the creation of the "Helsinki Group 2.0" initiative and called for a massive anti-war movement involving the international community based on the OSCE standards and principles.

"We are on the verge of a real continental war, the cause of which can be a military clash on any day in Russia and Ukraine. Russia's attack near the Kerch Strait was a kind of last straw. It showed a qualitative transition in the situation of Ukraine-Russia relations after the annexation of Crimea and the prolonged hybrid military conflict in Donbas," director of the Institute for Strategic Studies "New Ukraine" Andriy Yermolayev said at a press conference on Thursday hosted by the Kyiv-based Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

He said in the case of full-scale military actions, not only the collapse of political systems, but also for the states themselves, the consequences could be catastrophic.

"The anti-war movement is impossible only in a single country. Therefore, the Helsinki Group 2.0 is our initiative not only for our like-minded people in Ukraine ... but also in the states that were and remain members of the OSCE," he said.

"We consider it critical as early as 2019 to initiate and bring to a logical conclusion a meeting at the highest level of the OSCE participating states on one key issue: preventing the threat of the Ukrainian-Russian and continental war," he said.