The Paris summit did not bring the hoped-for breakthrough in the Ukraine conflict. The foreign ministers of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine are now discussing the situation again.
Kiev / Moscow (dpa) - The foreign ministers of Ukraine and Russia want to advise on Thursday under German-French mediation on progress in the Ukraine conflict. To do this, they join together for a video conference at 1 p.m.
"There has been a need for discussion for a long time," said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitri Kuleba. The ministers therefore want to talk about the stalled implementation of the decisions of the summit in the so-called Normandy format in Paris in early December.
So far, two arrangements for prisoner exchanges between Kiev and the breakaway areas of Donetsk and Luhansk have been carried out under the agreements. The agreement also included a new ceasefire and the establishment of three new front sections for a troop withdrawal. So far there has been no breakthrough.
Russia accused Ukraine of delaying implementation of the decisions. Moscow insists on a permanent special status agreed in 2015 for the competitive regions. However, a law passed by Kiev only provides for a special status of a maximum of three years. Until recently, President Volodymyr Selenskyj had aimed to hold the nationwide local elections scheduled for October in the war zone as well.
"A new summit doesn't make sense," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently. Another top-level meeting was originally planned for April in Berlin. Selenskyj wanted to discuss solutions with his Russian colleague Vladimir Putin, Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.
The foreign ministers plan to report individually on their deliberations after the conference in the afternoon. The German chief diplomat Heiko Maas said in advance that it was important to give the decisions and their implementation a new impetus. His Ukrainian colleague made a similar statement. There had to be new impetus for the planned summit in Berlin in order to conclude new agreements there to end the war.
Maas said on Thursday: "We have worked with France to ensure that the Normandy format creates an atmosphere that can be counted on. Now we need a clear commitment from Russia and Ukraine, whose role is to implement the Minsk agreements . " The minister insisted above all that the special observers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) could carry out their work freely in the entire territory of Ukraine. Russia must also exert its influence on the separatists. Maas also hopes that in the face of the Corona crisis, humanitarian progress can be made quickly - for example on the question of transitions.
Government troops have been fighting against separatists supported by Russia in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions since 2014. According to UN estimates, around 13,200 people have been killed since then. There had always been setbacks in the peace plan that was created with German and French help.