The Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs called on Friday February 26 in Paris for a new summit with Russia, France and Germany to obtain “
a new step forward
” on the conflict between Kiev and Moscow in the Donbass region.
Read also: Kiev recognizes the Donbass separatists as interlocutors
"
Ukraine is convinced that moving forward requires a new leaders' summit in the Normandy format
," said Dmytro Kuleba after an interview with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian.
On December 9, 2019, French Presidents Emmanuel Macron, Russian Vladimir Poutine and Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky as well as Chancellor Angela Merkel met in Paris, for the first meeting between the Russian and the Ukrainian.
Putin and Zelensky had recorded their disagreements, while affirming their will to overcome them.
"
We now need this
(new)
summit with the participation of Putin for a new step forward,
" insisted the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, regretting that the two crossing points opened by Kiev on the border remain closed on the Russian side.
"
We have exhausted all (...) our efforts,
" he said.
Ukraine has faced Russian-backed separatists in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk since 2014, the deadliest war in Europe since that in the Balkans in the 1990s. The conflict that began several weeks after the annexation of Moscow's Crimean Peninsula has claimed more than 13,000 lives and nearly 1.5 million displaced.
The intensity of the fighting declined significantly after peace accords reached in 2015, but the political process has not progressed much since.
Le Drian estimated that the “
road map
” enacted in December 2019 was “
still on the table
”.
"
There have been advances in security which have resulted in a ceasefire which has been respected, but which today is starting to falter a bit,
" he observed as two people - a soldier and a civilian - were killed and two others wounded earlier this week in a new outbreak of hostilities.
"
We must pursue the conclusions of this meeting in Paris to reactivate the political dimension of this agreement and particularly to be vigilant on the security dimension
," added Le Drian.
“
But in order to move forward, all the players must obviously be determined to do so
”.
