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Poroshenko urges to convene Contact Group emergency session — administration

The president has issued instructions to convene an emergency session of the Trilateral Contact Group in any mode to discuss a critical situation developing around a settlement in Donbass

© Mikhail Palinchak/Press Office of the President of Ukraine/TASS

KIEV, January 31. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko has given instructions to convene an emergency session of the Contact Group for the settlement in eastern Ukraine over a deteriorating situation around Avdeyevka, a settlement in Donbass, deputy head of the president’s administration Konstantin Yeliseyev said on Monday.

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Crew of Russian TV channel comes under gunfire by Ukrainian military in Donbass

"The president has issued instructions to convene an emergency session of the Trilateral Contact Group in any mode, even as a video conference, to discuss a critical situation developing around Avdeyevka," Yeliseyev told Ukrainian 5 TV.

He spoke of "a very tense situation, with critically important infrastructure destroyed" in the area. Poroshenko also instructed Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin to stay in close touch with representatives of the UN Security Council. Besides, according to Yeliseyev, "the OSCE is also preparing its reaction to what is going on around Avdeyevka".

Earlier on Monday, spokesman for the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic command Eduard Basurin said "the situation in the republic sharply deteriorated". "Ukraine’s forces shelled the DPR territory 1,912 times over the past 24 hours," he said.

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