Arseniy Yatsenyuk views Minsk deal the only roadmap to de-escalate the situation

The implementation of the Minsk agreement now depends on Russia: "... on whether Russia is ready for peace and stability in Europe or not," urged Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk at a joint press conference with Federal Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel in Berlin on Wednesday, April 1.

The Prime Minister of Ukraine stressed that his meeting with Angela Merkel was a "rather in-depth conversation": "Bilateral relations between Ukraine and Germany are exemplary. And we appreciate the personal position of the Chancellor, both in the process of forming a package of economic assistance to Ukraine, and the Minsk deal negotiations."

Arseniy Yatsenyuk stressed that he advocates the stance of the Chancellor regarding the Minsk process. The core objective, according to him, is overall implementation of a ceasefire regime: "The number of attacks has decreased, but since the start of the ceasefire by Ukraine, unfortunately this truce wasn’t implemented by Russia, and we've lost 75 persons of the Ukrainian military personnel, about 400 were wounded".

"We believe that the Minsk agreement must be fully implemented. For now it is the only roadmap towards de-escalation of the situation and the peaceful settlement of this conflict. Everything now depends on Russia – on whether Russia is ready for peace and stability in Europe," accentuated the Prime Minister of Ukraine.

According to him, to stop the Russian aggression “there should be unity among all the members of the European Union, and this unity can be observed, as well as the unity between the European Union and the United States”: “We should stand united to ban anyone violating the international law and resetting borders after World War II. It concerns Russia as well”.