The PACE rapporteur on the political consequences of the crisis in Ukraine, Kristyna Zelienková (Czech Republic, ALDE), said today that she was alarmed by reports of an upsurge in violence. "Whereas the ceasefire had seemed to be well respected since 1 September 2015, at least two soldiers have been killed and two injured since 14 October. Moreover, numerous sporadic shelling have recently been reported," she said, urging the two sides to maintain the ceasefire and advance the withdrawal of tanks and small-caliber weapons from the front line.

Speaking at a meeting of PACE's Political Affairs Committee in Paris, she said she joined the Commissioner for Human Rights in his appeal to take all measures to prevent further deaths and provide urgent assistance to meet the basic needs of the affected population. In this context, she welcomed that on 28 October separatists in Ukraine’s Luhansk region agreed to lift a ban on humanitarian aid deliveries by UN agencies. She expressed hope that a similar ban in the Donetsk region will be lifted soon.

Referring to her participation in the mission led by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe which observed local elections in Ukraine on 25 October 2015, Ms Zelienková welcomed the decision not to hold "elections" in the occupied areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions as such "elections" would have constituted a breach of the Minsk Agreements and could have seriously undermined the already fragile peace process.

In line with today's report by the Council of Europe's International Advisory Panel on Ukraine on the investigations into the violent incidents in Odessa in May 2014 and the previous report on Maidan, she urged the authorities to fully address all the mentioned operational and structural deficiencies in the investigative proceedings.

Reporting on her participation in a joint meeting of the Delegation to the EU-Russia PCC and the Delegation to the EU-Ukraine PAC, in Brussels on 15 October, she said that MEPs interest focused on the Council of Europe Venice Commission's role in  constitutional reform, as well as the role of oligarchs in Ukrainian politics.