Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, said that the Normandy format could become a platform for an effective settlement of the conflict in Donbass.
“I fully support this format and believe that apart from the Normandy format, we no longer have a platform to get out of this situation in order to really end the war in eastern Ukraine,” Zelensky said.
Also on Monday, a telephone conversation between Merkel and Macron took place with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Kremlin said that the leaders discussed the importance of the implementation of the Minsk Agreements as an uncontested basis for a settlement. Following the talks, it was proposed to continue discussing the possibility of holding the summit in the “Normandy format”.
Recall that the Minsk agreements, reached back in February 2015, underlie the peaceful settlement of the conflict in Donbass. The agreements envisage not only a ceasefire, withdrawal of weapons, amnesty, resumption of economic ties, but also a deep constitutional reform in Ukraine based on a dialogue with representatives of the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics.