Germany, France call for restraint amid Ukraine escalation
April 4, 2021
Germany and France, mediators in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, have called on all sides to exercise restraint amid repeated violations of a ceasefire brokered last July.
Ukraine has been battling pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions since 2014.Image: Reuters/A. Ermochenko
Advertisement
Germany and France on Saturday released a joint statement expressing concerns over the increasing ceasefire violations in eastern Ukraine, amid reports of a Russian military buildup along the border.
"We are closely monitoring the situation, especially the movements of Russian troops, and call on all parties to exercise restraint and work toward the immediate de-escalation of tensions," the German Foreign Office and the French Foreign Ministry said.
Berlin and Paris reaffirmed their "support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," as Kyiv accused Russia of massing thousands of troops on its shared borders as well as on the Crimean Peninsula.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has recorded hundreds of ceasefire violations in the past few days, including 493 on March 26 alone.
Germany and France have played a mediating role in Russia-Ukraine tensions as members of the so-called Normandy Format.
COVID-19: Self-help in Ukraine
02:39
This browser does not support the video element.
5-year-old killed
A Ukrainian drone attack killed a five-year-old boy and injured his 66-year-old grandmother in a village some 15 kilometers from the frontline in eastern Ukraine on Saturday, local media reported.
The drone was used to throw an explosive device into the yard of the family home in the village of Oleksandrivsk in the Donetsk separatist region, the reports said.
Meanwhile, Kyiv reported the death of one of its soldiers in a mine explosion in another village located in the Donetsk region.
"A soldier from the Joint Forces received an injury incompatible with life," the Ukrainian military said in a statement.
Joe Biden returns to Munich Security Conference in new role
The coronavirus pandemic means the annual Munich Security Conference is reduced to an online forum in 2021. New US President Joe Biden will address world leaders as US Commander-in-Chief — but he has attended before.
Weeks after being sworn in as vice president of the United States, Joe Biden made his first visit to the 45th Munich Security Conference in 2009. There he met German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who at that time had already led Germany for almost four years. More than 300 representatives from 50 countries attended the event that year, the world's largest international security conference.
Image: Peter Kneffel/Epa/dpa/picture-alliance
2013: Biden addresses the conference
Four years later, Joe Biden returned to address the plenary of the conference at Munich's prestigious Bayerischer Hof. By then he had been elected to a second term as vice president along with President Barack Obama. Biden used his speech to call for closer ties between Europe and the United States, including a transatlantic free trade zone. "Europeans are our oldest friends and allies," he said.
With the Syrian Civil War raging, Vice President Biden also took the opportunity to call on Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down. He met with the Syrian opposition leader Moaz al-Khatib, who also attended the conference. But Biden would not commit to further US military intervention in Syria and al-Khatib resigned a few months after the conference.
Image: Tobias Hase/dpa/picture alliance
2013: Biden and Russia
Biden was also instrumental in encouraging Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to meet with the Syrian opposition leader at the 2013 conference. While the meeting took place, Russia did not withdraw its support for Syrian President Assad. Biden emphasized that Russia-US relations were improving, but also noted differences in human rights laws between the two powers.
Image: Tobias Hase/dpa/picture alliance
2015: Biden embraces EU
When Biden next returned to Munich in 2015, relations with the Kremlin were frostier following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The vice president focused on his country's cooperation with the EU. Biden coupled his trip to Munich with a visit to Brussels, where he met European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and EU foreign affairs chief, Federica Mogherini.
Image: Olivier Hoslet/dpa/picture alliance
2015: Trilateral talks
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had been critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions in Ukraine, was key in securing trilateral talks at the 2015 conference between herself, Biden and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Poroshenko has since been replaced and the conflict in Ukraine is ongoing. Biden and Merkel are both speakers at the 2021 Munich Security Conference.
Image: Andreas Gebert/dpa/picture alliance
6 images1 | 6
Russia-Ukraine conflict
Ukraine has been battling pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions —collectively known as Donbas — since 2014, following a change of government in Kyiv and Moscow's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula.
The conflict has claimed more than 13,000 lives, according to the United Nations.
Moscow and Kyiv this week blamed each other for a rise in violence along the front-line that has undermined the ceasefire brokered last July.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that 20 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since the start of the year.
