Putin, Poroshenko, Merkel, Hollande affirm urgent need for dialogue, ceasefine in Ukraine — RT News.
The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France agree that a meeting of a contact group is urgently needed to kick-start dialogue between Kiev and the country’s East and achieve a lasting ceasefire, the Kremlin announced after a four-side phone call.
President Vladimir Putin has held a teleconference with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and his Ukrainian and French counterparts, Petro Poroshenko and Francois Hollande, the Kremlin said in a statement on Tuesday night.
The Russian President stressed “the importance of a swift meeting of the Contact Group with the aim of implementing the Minsk agreements and facilitating dialogue between Kiev and [Ukraine’s] southeast,”Kremlin press release reads.
The exchange of prisoners and the removal of heavy weapons from the demarcation line are some of the“priorities now”, the Kremlin noted. The need to provide economic and humanitarian assistance to the affected regions in eastern Ukraine was also stressed.
