Ukrainian Pres. Notes Progress in Minsk Peace at Talks With France, Germany
KYIV (Sputnik) – French President Francois Hollande’s diplomatic advisor Jacques Audibert and German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christoph Heusgen arrived in Kyiv on Monday for a two-day visit to discuss reconciliation between the Ukrainian government and Donbas militias.
“Interlocutors noted the progress that Ukraine had made on Minsk agreements, and underscored the importance of a coordinated action for their full implementation,” Poroshenko’s press service said.
The two diplomats are expected to call for an end to violence in the east and a full ceasefire, as well as for the release of all war prisoners.
Ukraine has been locked in an armed conflict since April 2014 after Kyiv launched a military operation to suppress militias in the southeastern, who refused to recognize the country’s new government after it seized power in a February 2014 coup.
In February 2015, Kyiv authorities and militias signed a deal in the Belarusian capital Minsk to put an end to fighting. It called for a ceasefire, arms pullout from the line of contact, and prisoner swaps, among other measures.