A classroom in school No. 57 was damaged by recent shelling in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, October 1, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern over the escalating violence in eastern Ukraine, condemning the shelling of a school as unacceptable. He called on all parties involved to “redouble their efforts” to resolve the conflict by abiding by the September 19 peace deal reached in Minsk. Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the Minsk peace deal during a Wednesday telephone call to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The Kremlin press office said Putin called for a halt to shelling residential areas in south-eastern Ukraine, the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the buffer zone between the Ukrainian opposition and government forces, and a guarantee for monitoring by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.