News

On 1 February, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius had a telephone conversation with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin to discuss the situation in Avdiivka.

The Foreign Ministers believe that in order to immediately address the humanitarian crisis, it is necessary to stop all military actions and start planning infrastructure. It is also important to avoid engaging in provocative actions. Moreover, it is necessary to ensure that the OSCE observers are granted unimpeded access to Russian-backed separatist controlled areas in order to provide objective and accurate information about the situation on the ground.

According to Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, the situation in the town of Avdiivka is particularly difficult due to intense shelling by Russian-backed separatists around Avdiivka. The town has no water, electricity or heating, also a partial evacuation of its civilian population has begun.

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister noted that the functioning of Mariupol – one of the largest cities in eastern Ukraine – depended on the activity of plants in Avdiivka.

Linkevičius stressed that he would raise the issue related to the escalation of the security situation in Donbass during the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council on 6 February in Brussels. Lithuania will also continue to raise the issue related to the provision of support to Ukraine in all international organizations.

Klimkin also informed Lithuania’s Foreign Minister that Ukraine started to chair the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on 1 February. The security situation in the Donbass region will be among Ukraine’s key priority issues and will be discussed during the UNSC meeting already on 2 February. The meeting was initiated by Ukraine.

Lithuania’s Foreign Minister once again reassured that Lithuania would continue to strongly support Ukraine’s independence and territorial integrity.