German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Monday, Jan 26, nobody was blindly set on imposing further sanctions on Moscow over its stance in eastern Ukraine, ahead of a meeting of European foreign ministers in Brussels on Thursday, according to Reuters.

But he added that “an offensive by pro-Russian separatists against the eastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol would constitute a significant change in the situation, to which Europe would have to react.”

Steinmeier also warned that time was running out for implementing the Minsk peace accord struck last September and he urged Moscow to send a clear order to rebels in eastern Ukraine.