MOSCOW, February 22. /TASS/. The Minsk agreements on a settlement in the southeast of Ukraine were trampled underfoot by the regime in Kiev as soon as they were signed, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on the Rossiya-24 round-the-clock television news channel on Tuesday.

"The Minsk agreements were trampled underfoot by the regime in Kiev as soon as they were signed. The then-president Pyotr Poroshenko began to present excuses in the Verkhovna Rada instead of defending this most important document, which would allow for ending hostilities and paving the way for a peace settlement and preserving Ukraine’s territorial integrity," Lavrov said. "His foreign minister at that time, Pavel Klimkin, kept saying that these agreements were not worth a dime, that they are just a sheet of paper, and that Ukraine had assumed no obligations."

"In a word, they felt scared. They were afraid of defending their point of view and the consensus that was achieved in Minsk by the presidents of Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany," Lavrov said.

Tensions surged up along the engagement line in Donbass in the morning of February 17. The Donetsk and Lugansk republics reported the worst bombardments in recent months. Civilian infrastructure facilities were damaged. On Friday, the Lugansk and Donetsk leaders, Leonid Pasechnik and Denis Pushilin declared the evacuation of civilians in the light of the soaring risks of hostilities. General mobilization began on Saturday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 21 said Russia recognized the sovereignty of the DPR and LPR. Treaties on friendship, cooperation, and mutual assistance were signed with their leaders.