Merkel calls progress in resolving conflict in Donbass negligible

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called progress in the implementation of agreements to resolve the conflict in Ukraine negligible

She said this to journalists in Paris on Thursday before meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Merkel noted that the two leaders would discuss work in the Normandy format because “the situation there [in eastern Ukraine] is complicated and progress [in the settlement] is negligible”.

However, the German prime minister, referring to the operation in Afghanistan, described it as “unsuccessful”. Furthermore, Merkel stressed that she intended to discuss with Macron the German parliamentary elections scheduled for September 26. This will be done so that “there is no stagnation in pan-European decision making during the French Presidency of the European Union”.