The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine shares the concerns of our French and German partners over the lack of progress in the peaceful resolution in Donbas amid the COVID-19 pandemic, expressed on 30 March in the joint statement by the Foreign Ministers of the above states.

That very day one more Ukrainian soldier was killed and three other wounded as a result of Russian shellings in Donbas. Intensive activities by the Russian occupation forces in Donbas unveil their perceptions of the COVID-19 global threat as a conducive time for escalation.

Together with our Normandy partners – France and Germany, we call on the Russian Federation, as a party to the international armed conflict, to implement immediately its security commitments under the Minsk agreements, inter alia to ensure full and comprehensive ceasefire in Donbas. We consider such step to be not only a necessary prerequisite for progress on other tracks of the peace process, but also as an essential element of global endeavors in countering COVID-19 in the spirit of the UN Secretary General’s calls for peace.

Ukraine has already drawn the attention of the international community to the critical incapability to tackle the spread of coronavirus throughout the temporarily occupied territories. In conditions of the ongoing armed aggression and de-facto closure of the occupied territories of Donbas for the OSCE and UN institutions, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other humanitarian NGOs, local residents have found themselves in a role of hostages vulnerable to the threat of pandemic.

The Russian Federation must provide full and comprehensive access to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including the section of the Ukrainian-Russian state border. It is a Russia’s commitment under the Minsk agreements that was reaffirmed at the latest meeting of the Normandy Four leaders on 9 December 2019, but remains unimplemented.

We call on the Russian Federation to fully guarantee the right to life and access to healthcare for illegally detained Ukrainians, to provide full and comprehensive access for the monitoring missions and ICRC representatives, as well as Ukrainian doctors to the population of the temporarily occupied territories for qualified medical examination and treatment.

Instead of ostentatious actions, aimed at whitewashing its reputation, Russia should take a viable step, contributing to the international fight against a deadly virus - stop its aggression against Ukraine.