KIEV, November 11 (Sputnik) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and US Vice President Joe Biden have agreed during telephone talks that a rollback in the implementation of Minsk agreements can be observed in Donbas (Ukraine’s eastern regions), Poroshenko’s press office said in a statement.
“Petro Poroshenko and Joseph Biden discussed the situation in the Donbas and stated the rollback in the implementation of the Minsk agreements, which leads to further escalation,” the statement, released Monday, said, expressing concern over the presence of “heavy armament columns” in the region.
The Special Monitoring Mission (SMM), deployed in Ukraine by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), reported the movements of large military convoys of heavy weapons and tanks in Donbas over the weekend.
On Monday, US State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki said the United States had no information, supporting claims that the convoys belonged to Russia.
Deputy Commander of the Donetsk People’s Republic militia Eduard Basurin told Sputnik on Sunday that the convoy, detected by the SMM, belonged to independence supporters and was moved from its initial locations “for tactical reasons”.
Since the start of the military conflict in eastern Ukraine, Kiev and the West have repeatedly accused Russia of intervening in the Ukrainian crisis, and even claimed that Moscow had sent troops and weapons to independence supporters in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Russia, in turn, has repeatedly denied these accusations.
The conflict in Ukraine escalated in mid-April, when Kiev launched a military operation against Donbas independence supporters, who refused to recognize the new government, which came to power as a result of the February coup.