EU FMs to discuss Ukraine crisis

A woman reacts as she attends a rally in memory of people who died during shelling in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol on Saturday, in Kiev January 25, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

BRUSSELS -- Foreign policy chief of the European Union (EU) Federica Mogherini said on Sunday that she decided to convene an extraordinary ministerial meeting to discuss the Ukraine crisis amid escalation of violence in the country in the coming Thursday.

"I'm convening an extraordinary Foreign Affairs Council next Thursday on Ukraine," Mogherini said on her twitter account.

In an official statement, Mogherini said she convened the meeting in a background of Saturday's rocket attack on the government-controlled port city of Mariupol in restive eastern Ukraine, in which the death toll has risen to 30.

The statement also noted she has spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Sunday, calling Russia to use its "considerable influence" over rebel leaders and to stop the hostile action there.