EU slams fighting in eastern Ukraine as "blatant violation" of Minsk deals

The European Union (EU) on Tuesday slammed the fighting in an eastern Ukrainian town, calling it a "blatant violation" of the ceasefire brokered by Russia, France, and Germany.

Ukrainian forces and insurgents clashed heavily for a third straight day on Tuesday, claiming at least 13 lives since Sunday.

"The intense fighting around Avdiivka in the last few days, involving heavy shelling with proscribed weapons and leading to a considerable number of casualties, is a blatant violation of the ceasefire, as stipulated by the Minsk agreements," a spokesperson of the European External Action Service (EEAS), the EU's diplomatic service, said in a statement.

Stressing that civilians were at grave risk, the EU called for the fighting to stop immediately.

The EEAS did not mention who should be blamed for the fighting.

The two sides reached a peace agreement brokered by Russia, France, and Germany in September 2014 in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, and a more detailed renewal of the agreement was signed in February 2015.

The Minsk deals envisage a ceasefire, a withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the contact line, a prisoner exchange, and holding local elections in Donbass, among other measures. Endit