KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th September, 2020) Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says Normandy format talks on the level of political advisors are still on the agenda, amid ceasefire violations in Ukraine's southeast (Donbas).
"As of now, an advisors' meeting remains on the agenda, Ukraine is thoroughly preparing for it and, undoubtedly, the death of our servicemen will be one of the issues that will be firmly discussed," Kuleba told ICTV on Monday.
Ukrainian forces have reported ceasefire violations in Donbas, saying that one serviceman was killed over this past weekend.
Kuleba told ICTV that ceasefire violations would be a "rollback" in Normandy Format talks.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Russia was concerned over the recent escalation of tensions in Ukraine's southeast.
Kuleba said on his Facebook page that he has initiated urgent talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov amid the escalation of the military conflict in Donbas.
Peskov said last week that the date of a meeting of Normandy Four political advisors had not been agreed upon.
At the end of August, head of Ukraine's presidential administration Andriy Yermak said that political advisors from Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine were going to discuss the Donbas settlement before September 10. According to the Ukrainian presidency, the meeting was originally planned for August 28 but had to be postponed because of a scheduling conflict.
Ceasefire violations continue in southeastern Ukraine, where additional measures to ensure a cessation of hostilities came into force in July.
Earlier this month, Russian envoy to the Trilateral Contact Group on Donbas, Boris Gryzlov, said that both the Donetsk and Luhansk self-proclaimed republics in Ukraine's southeast were ready to sign agreements on the disengagement of forces provided that local elections are held, in line with the Minsk agreements.
Lavrov said on Friday that there were no current agreements in place for the foreign ministers of the so-called Normandy Four countries - Russia, France, Germany, and Ukraine - to meet. The Normandy format has been established to help resolve the armed conflict in Donbas which started in 2014, when Kiev launched a military operation against the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
