UN, February 1. /TASS/. The UN Security Council will hold an open meeting with the participation of the OSCE representatives Thursday to discuss the situation in eastern Ukraine, Kiev’s permanent envoy to the UN said.

"Within the framework of our presidency (in the UN Security Council), we plan to hold an open Security Council meeting this Thursday," Vladimir Yelchenko said, adding that the discussion was scheduled for 15:00 local time (23:00 Moscow time).

Among those invited to the meeting are UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Stephen O’Brien, Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine Ertugrul Apakan and Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group Martin Sajdik.

In the past two days, armed clashes intensified near the town of Avdeyevka and the settlement of Yasinovataya close to the line separating the areas controlled by the Kiev government and the self-proclaimed republics of eastern Ukraine. The Kiev government blamed the eastern Ukrainian militia for the escalation of the conflict, and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko claimed he had to cut short his visit to Germany, although the official program of the journey was over by that time.

However, according to the military authorities of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Ukrainian servicemen started their offense as early as Sunday evening, but had to withdraw to their initial positions due to fierce resistance.

The UN Security Council held a closed session to discuss the issue on the Kiev government’s request Monday. According to Kiev’s permanent UN envoy, the Ukrainian side circulated among the council’s members a draft press statement calling for an immediate end to the hostilities.

A similar call was voiced earlier by Russia, Brussels, the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, a number of European countries, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the United States. UN Secretary general spokesman Stephane Dujarric also called for an immediage ceasefire, adding that the resumption of hostilities are a direct breach of the Minsk reconciliation accords.