The European Union's top diplomat warned Moscow on Tuesday against recognising two Russian-backed breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent.
"This recognition would be a clear violation of the Minsk agreements", Josep Borrell said, referring to the peace deals signed in the Belarusian capital in September 2014 and in February 2015 to try to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
"EU support and commitment to Ukraine's independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders remains unwavering", he added.
Russia's lower house of parliament had voted earlier on Tuesday to ask Russian President Vladimir Putin to recognise the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, in the area known as the Donbass, where separatist forces have been fighting the Ukrainian army since 2014.
The conflict is part of a wider crisis, with the United States warning that Russia may attack Ukraine at any time with a force of more than 100,000 troops massed near its borders. Russia denies any such plan and accuses the West of hysteria.
