Ukraine leader: Russia doesn’t support peace
Poroshenko: ‘undeclared’ war continues with Russian mercenaries who are crossing the border into Ukraine
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Thursday accused Russia of failing to fully back a peace plan to end the bloodshed in the east of his country.
The plan “will only be able to work if Russia cooperates. Up to now unfortunately the support (from Moscow) has been insufficient,” Poroshenko told the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.
“The ‘undeclared’ war continues to rage,” he said, calling on Moscow to “recall the mercenaries who are crossing the Russian border” into Ukraine.
He also said Russia needed to “put an end to the hate speech (against Ukraine) that is being relayed by Russian media and which in no way contributes to restoring peace.”
Poroshenko said Kyiv wants “to restore peace on the basis of a de-escalation. The prerequisite is an end to the violence.”
His comments came as a week-long unilateral ceasefire announced by Poroshenko was due to expire on Friday.
(AFP)