Following is the statement on Ukraine by Marie Harf, State Department senior advisor for strategic communications, made on June 3 in reference to the latest fighting in eastern Ukraine.
And lastly on Ukraine, we are disturbed by reports, including those from the OSCE that combined Russian-separatist forces launched coordinated attacks overnight against Ukrainian positions near Donetsk – near Donetsk city in Pisky, Luhansk and Maryinka. We are now seeing unconfirmed reports that the town of Maryinka may have fallen. These attacks by combined Russian-separatist forces are on the Ukrainian side of the ceasefire line. They have reportedly utilized Grad rockets and other heavy weapons that should have been withdrawn under the February Minsk plan, and they’ve reportedly killed at least one and injured 20 Ukrainians. Any new attack or aggressive action by combined Russian-separatist forces is unacceptable and contravenes the Minsk agreements. Russia bears direct responsibility for preventing these attacks and implementing a ceasefire. Any attempts to seize additional Ukrainian territory will be met with increased costs.