UN Security Council expressed concern over conflict escalation in Ukraine’s east

The UN Security Council has expressed its “grave concern” over the “dangerous deterioration” in eastern Ukraine and called for a halt to the violence.

“The members of the Security Council expressed their full support of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” the Security Council said in statement. “The members of the Security Council called for an immediate return to a ceasefire regime.”

The US Department of State, too, is concerned with how the situation in the town of Avdiyivka has been developing, and has called on the sides to immediately cease the exchange of fire and to allow unimpeded access of OSCE observers to the area.

The Security Council includes both Russia and the Ukraine, which is a rotating member of the council. Both nations had agreed to the Security Council statement, which noted the unrest’s “severe impact on the local civilian population”.

The fighting in Avdiyivka continued throughout the night and morning of February 1, with both sides already reporting casualties. The government in Kiev talks about a humanitarian crisis, as the area has suffered severe power and heating system outages since fighting intensified two days ago.

The Trilateral Contact Group [a group of representatives from Ukraine, Russia and OSCE] is meeting in Minsk today to discuss the escalation.

• The hostilities in Ukraine’s east claimed the lives of about 9,500 people between the 2014 spring and September 2016, according to the UN. A ceasefire based on the Minsk Agreements is currently in place in the conflict zone, prohibiting, inter alia, use of heavy weaponry by the conflicting sides. Russia has denied its involvement in the conflict.