OSCE mission says cease-fire violations at "worrying levels":
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) monitoring mission in eastern Ukraine says that the number of violations of the cease-fire deal between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists is at the highest level in months.
Ertugrul Apakan, the chief monitor for the OSCE mission, said in Vienna that during the past few weeks, "armed violence in eastern Ukraine has once again reached worrying levels."
Meanwhile, at a security conference in Moscow on April 28, OSCE Secretary-General Lamberto Zannier spoke out against the idea of giving weapons to the unarmed monitors.
Zannier said arming the OSCE monitors should only be done if there is consensus and clear agreements are in place, and if their tasks are clearly understood.
He said that first and foremost, the warring sides should respect the cease-fire brokered as part of the February 2015 Minsk accords. (AFP, Interfax, TASS)
Here's today's map of the latest situation in the volatile Donbas conflict zone, courtesy of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry (CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE):
Here's another item from our news desk:
EU, Ukraine Postpone Summit Until September
The European Union says it has postponed an EU-Ukraine Summit that was scheduled for next month until September.
A European Commission spokeswoman said on April 27 that the delay was agreed to in order to give the new government in Kyiv the necessary time to carry out political and financial reforms in the country.
The summit was to have been held in Brussels on May 19 and attended by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
"In the meantime, the new Ukrainian government will pursue work on delivering its reform commitments" under the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, the spokeswoman said.
"The rescheduling of the summit should also allow for the review of the IMF [International Monetary Fund] program to be concluded," she added.
The EU's Association Agreement with Ukraine was the main issue behind a crisis in the country that led to the 2014 ousting of pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych, who rejected the deal.