MOSCOW, January 30 (Sputnik) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday held an operative meeting with the country’s Security Council on the deterioration of the situation in southeastern Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“There was a broad exchange of opinions expressed on the worsening conditions that are continuing in southeastern Ukraine,” Peskov said.
The military confrontation between Kiev forces and independence supporters in eastern Ukraine began in April 2014 recently intensified despite a ceasefire agreement reached in September.
In January, local militia said that Ukrainian forces began shelling residential areas in the Donetsk Region.
Last week, shelling in the southeastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol killed at least 30 civilians. Kiev and pro-independence militia have accused each other of the attack.
More than 5,000 people in Ukraine have died as a result of the conflict, according to the United Nations.
