Fighting reported near port of Mariupol

Fighting reported near port of Mariupol

KIEV -- Fighting has continued between pro-Russian and Ukrainian army forces near the port of Mariupol on Tuesday.

It is increasingly feared that Mariupol will be the rebels' next target.

The Ukrainian media are saying that there was also shooting in the Debaltsevo and Donetsk areas, breaking "the relative ceasefire."

The war in Ukraine will be the main topic of Tuesday's meeting in Paris between foreign ministers of France, Germany, Russia, and Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday in an interview that an "apocalyptic scenario" of a war breaking out between Russia and Ukraine was highly unlikely, and added he hoped "it never comes to that."

"If the Minsk agreements are implemented, I am confident that the situation will gradually return to normal," Putin said.

Meanwhile, British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond said that "from the experience of the last 10 to 12 days, the Russian engagement in the Minsk process is rather cynical."

According to AFP, he "expressed a high degree of scepticism about a Russian commitment to achieving genuine peace in Ukraine on anything but terms unilaterally dictated from the Kremlin".