2014-09-09 10:51:00

Ukraine urges OSCE to monitor ceasefire


(Vatican Radio) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has urged Europe's security organisation to monitor points where a shaky ceasefire with pro-Russian separatists has been violated. Poroshenko spoke in the strategic south-eastern port city of Mariupol while the European Union announced new sanctions against Russia, but later delayed the implementation. 

Listen to Stefan Bos' full report:

President Pororshenko called upon the Organization for Security and Co-operation (OSCE) to send monitors to areas in eastern Ukraine, where clashes have occurred despite a ceasefire signed last Friday in Belarus. 

"My demand, my request, to the OSCE is to have on each dangerous point an OSCE representative. If you take the whole area of the anti-terrorist operation, we have just six points where the ceasefire was violated," he said, speaking in English. 

"Exactly on these points, including the eastern border of Mariupol, we should have OSCE representation to [enable] a quick reaction if anything goes wrong. These are the real steps for having peace," Poroshenko added.       

He spoke after Mariupol came under shelling from pro-Russian rebels in recent days, killing a woman and injuring four people. 

METAL PLANT

Poroshenko, accompanied by heavily armed security forces, visited metal workers at a Mariupol plant within the range of the rebels rockets.

Pro-Russian rebels have been accused of opening a new front here to establish a land bridge between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in March.

Yet Poroshenko has has defended a ceasefire deal reached in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying everyone wants peace, but acknowledged criticism.  

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has called it "extremely dangerous" as the plan did not demand that Russian forces leave Ukrainian territory.      

RUSSIAN TROOPS?

Kiev and the West have accused Russia of sending troops and heavy weapons to help pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, charges Moscow denies.  

On Monday the European Union announced new sanctions against Russia, putting its top oil producers and pipeline operators Rosneft, Transneft and Gazprom Neft on its list of Russian state-owned firms that would not be allowed to raise capital or borrow on European markets. 

But the EU later delayed introducing the punitive measures over Russia's alleged role in the conflict for several days. 

In Council President Herman van Rompuy's words the EU wants to give time "for an assessment of the implementation of the ceasefire and the peace plan". 








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