UK, Poland Agree to Put Pressure on Russia Until Minsk Deal Implemented

LONDON (Sputnik) — The UK statement comes ahead of the annual UK-Poland Quadriga at Edinburgh Castle later in the day, where Hammond and UK Defense Secretary Michael Fallon will host their Polish counterparts Witold Waszczykowski and Antoni Macierewicz.

"We… agree on the importance of maintaining pressure on Russia until the Minsk agreements are fully implemented and on the need to support a democratic and prosperous Ukraine," the statement reads.

Ukraine has been locked in an armed conflict since April 2014 after Kiev launched a military operation to suppress militias in the country’s southeast that refused to recognize the new government after it seized power in a February 2014 coup.

The European Union, the United States and their allies imposed a series of individual and economic sanctions against Russian nationals and key spheres of the country's economy accusing Moscow of meddling in Ukraine internal affairs and escalating a military crisis in the country.

In February 2015, Kiev authorities and militias signed a deal in the Belarusian capital Minsk to put an end to fighting. It called for a ceasefire, arms pullout from the line of contact, and prisoner swaps, among other measures.