Washington has expressed serious concern over increasing military activity in the militant-occupied eastern regions of Ukraine, reports GHN based on Ukrinform.
National Security Council Spokesperson Bernadette Meehan said this in a statement on Sunday.
"We are very concerned by intensified fighting in eastern Ukraine, as well as numerous reports, including from the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), that Russian backed and supplied separatists are moving large convoys of heavy weapons and tanks to the front lines of the conflict," reads the document.
At the same time, it notes that the United States continues to call on all sides to strictly adhere to the cease-fire." Any attempt by separatist forces to seize additional territory in eastern Ukraine would be a blatant violation of the Minsk agreements," the statement says.
"We reiterate our call on the Russian Federation to honor all of the commitments it made in Minsk, including ending its military supply to the separatists and the withdrawal of all of its troops and weapons from Ukraine," the spokesperson said.
In addition, he said, Russia must enable the restoration of Ukrainian sovereignty along the Ukrainian side of the international border, to be monitored by the OSCE, and facilitate the release of all hostages.
"We continue to stress that adherence to the framework agreed upon in Minsk is the best chance of achieving a peaceful resolution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine," reads the statement.