Ukraine's Opposition Bloc seeks Normandy meeting over escalation in eastern Ukraine

Ukraine's Opposition Bloc on Monday asked parliament to initiate a meeting of the four-nation Normandy quartet over the escalating tensions in the war-torn town of Avdeevka in eastern Ukraine.

"We intend to request the meeting in the Normandy format because the spike of violence on the frontline and the tragedy in Avdeevka should not be repeated," Yuriy Boyko, the head of the Opposition Bloc, told reporters in Kiev.

He voiced the hope that the leaders of the Normandy Four of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany will find ways for ensuring a sustainable ceasefire and normalizing the situation in eastern Ukraine.

The tensions in Donetsk and Lugansk regions worsened last week as fierce fighting erupted between government troops and pro-independence insurgents in the Kiev-controlled Avdeevka town, bringing dozens of combatant and civilian casualties.

The tensions between the two sides in Avdeevka have slightly eased after a week of violence, Pavlo Zhebrivsky, the head of Donetsk regional military-civilian administration, told local media on Monday, saying "the combat escalation of the situation at Avdeevka has started to downtrend."

The partial cessation of the hostilities has allowed a start of the repair works on the damaged infrastructure, Zhebrivsky said, adding that several schools have resumed the education process.

Last week, the town of Avdeevka was the epicenter of the renewed fighting in eastern Ukraine, which marked the worst upsurge of violence in the region since last year.

Each side blamed the other for igniting the violence in the conflict that has killed some 10,000 people since April 2014.

The Normandy format is a diplomatic group of leaders from the four countries set up to resolve the crisis in eastern Ukraine in accordance with agreements reached in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, in February 2015.

The previous meeting in the Normandy format was held on Oct. 19, 2016, in Berlin, Germany. Endi