Kiev and Moscow trade barbs amid recent violence
Foreign ministries of Russia and Ukraine accuse one another's governments of failing to implement peace accords.
MOSCOW
Ukraine and Russia have been involved in sharp diplomatic exchanges after renewed fighting last week, with each side accusing the other of failing to honor a faltering peace deal signed in Minsk in September.
A Ukraine foreign ministry statement on Sunday proposed an immediate cessation of hostilities to be effective from Monday, and called on Russia to fulfill its Minsk obligations.
Kiev also denied pro-Russia separatists' recent claims to have retaken Donetsk International Airport in the east of the country.
Russia's response was more bombastic, laying blame for both last week's violence and civilian casualties at the feet of Kiev. The Russian foreign ministry accused Western governments of encouraging the "war party" in Kiev, describing as “provocations” events such as 13 January's artillery strike on a civilian bus and last year's downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine.
Moscow has claimed that it will use its influence on separatist militias to regulate the situation in eastern Ukraine if Kiev holds up its side of the Minsk protocols.
The Minsk protocols, aimed at ending the conflict between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region, were originally signed in September of last year.
Based largely on Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko's "15-point peace proposal" of 20 July 2014, among the points contained in the Minsk protocols are provisions for the release of all prisoners and illegally detained individuals, a ceasefire monitored by the OSCE and the withdrawal of foreign volunteers and military equipment from the area.
