国际英语新闻:Russia accuses Ukraine of undermining Minsk deals

MOSCOW, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine's attacks against insurgents in the eastern region of Donbass have torpedoed the Minsk agreements, the Kremlin said Tuesday.

Ukrainian nationalist volunteer battalions supported by artillery fire crossed the line of contact on Monday, and the militia of Donbass had to repel their offensive, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by TASS news agency.

"These aggressive actions, with the support of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, are hurting the objectives and tasks of the implementation of the Minsk agreements," said Peskov.

The Kremlin lamented victims on both sides as a result of the attacks, he added.

Kiev launched a military operation in the country's southeast in April 2014, after local residents refused to recognize the new pro-West Ukrainian authorities. Violence has been plaguing the Donbass region since then.

The two sides reached a peace agreement brokered by Russia, France and Germany in September 2014 in Belarussian capital of Minsk, and a more detailed renewal of the agreement was signed in February 2015.

The Minsk deals envisage a cease-fire, a withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the contact line, a prisoner exchange, and holding local elections in Donbass, among other measures.

On Tuesday, Peskov suggested Moscow, Paris and Berlin should pressure Kiev to observe these documents.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Monday that his country remained committed to the Minsk agreements.

"There is no alternative to the deals," Poroshenko told a joint briefing in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who expressed her concern over the current situation in eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian forces and the insurgents clashed heavily for a third straight day at a town in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, which have claimed the lives of at least 13 civilians and fighters on both sides since Sunday.

Poroshenko reportedly had cut short a visit to Berlin due to the situation.