Macron Welcomes Readiness of Both Parties in Ukraine Conflict to Implement Ceasefire
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday during talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin that the negotiations on the settlement of the conflict in the Ukrainian breakaway region of Donbas see "significant progress" given that both parties show a willingness for a ceasefire
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th September, 2020) French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday during talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin that the negotiations on the settlement of the conflict in the Ukrainian breakaway region of Donbas see "significant progress" given that both parties show a willingness for a ceasefire.
The presidents held a phone talk earlier on Monday. Besides the Ukraine conflict, they also discussed the situation with Belarus, the alleged poisoning of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny and other topics of international concern.
"As for Ukraine, the President of the Republic stressed that the parties' commitment to the ceasefire of July 27 represents significant progress, which must now be used to implement the measures agreed at the Paris summit in December 2019," the Elysee Palace's statement read.
The Paris "Normandy Format" summit on the Ukraine conflict took place on December 9, 2019. It further established the Minsk agreements to remain the basis for the resolution of the crisis, set up the aim of disengaging forces and military equipment by the end of March 2020 on three additional disengagement areas in Donbas, and ordered the implementation of a ceasefire by the end of 2019.
The four leaders of the member states of the Normandy Format - Russia, France, Ukraine and Germany - had also scheduled a meeting in Berlin four months later. However, the summit was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and some tasks of the Paris summit remain unfulfilled.
The crisis in Ukraine began in 2014, when Kiev declared war against the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR, LPR respectively). They announced their independence following a change of power in Ukraine in February 2014. The ways to settle the conflict are being discussed in the framework of the Normandy Format, which has agreed upon three documents to end the crisis. However, despite the agreements between the parties, the conflict remains underway.