MUNICH, (Sputnik) — The armed conflict in Ukraine must be stopped on the ground, not on paper, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Sunday.
"In Ukraine, what we must seek right now is not peace on paper, but peace on the ground," Fabius said at the Munich Security Conference.
Military confrontation between Kiev authorities and pro-independence forces of southeastern Ukraine has recently intensified, despite a September 2014 ceasefire agreement signed during the Contact Group on Ukraine meeting in Minsk.
Talks on Ukrainian reconciliation have been conducted in various formats, including and excluding independence supporters, but none of the consultations has so far led to a long-term truce.
Over 5,000 people have died in the conflict, which started in April 2014, according to the United Nations.
