US, Russia discuss Ukraine situation

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry discussed the situation in Ukraine in a telephone conversation.

"Lavrov emphasised the need of strict observance by the conflict parties of the ceasefire deal, the withdrawal of heavy weapons, as well as the monitoring of the situation by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Lavrov urged relevant parties to immediately stop shelling in Ukraine's eastern city of Donetsk, which has killed an employee of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Xinhua reported.

A 38-year-old Swiss national who worked as an administrator at the ICRC office in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk city, was killed during shelling.

The Ukrainian government troops and independence-seeking insurgents, who staged violent confrontation in the eastern city, have traded barbs, accusing each other of being responsible for the incident.

Both sides have repeatedly blamed each other for shelling the residential area, which resulted in heavy civilian casualties.