France along with Germany, both members of the Normandy Format group, is set to ensure that the decisions on the crisis in Donbas made during the 2019 Paris summit are implemented, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Friday
PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th February, 2021) France along with Germany, both members of the Normandy Format group, is set to ensure that the decisions on the crisis in Donbas made during the 2019 Paris summit are implemented, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Friday.
The top diplomat met with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in Paris earlier today for talks on bilateral relations in the political and economic spheres.
"We also discussed the conflict in Donbas. Our commitment, along with Germany, within the Normandy Format, aimed at resolving this conflict, remains absolutely firm. Therefore, we are working on the implementation of the conclusions agreed at the Normandy format summit, which was held in Paris on December 9, 2019," Le Drian said, according to a statement released by the Foreign Ministry.
The minister also expressed hope that all the concerned parties would proceed with the "constructive" negotiations and the implementation of their pledges concerning the war in Donbas.
In 2014 the Ukrainian army initiated an offensive against the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk - collectively known as the Donbas - after they proclaimed independence from Kiev in response to what they considered a coup in the Ukrainian capital that ousted the old government in February 2014.
In February 2015, leaders of the Normandy contact group comprisin Russia, France, Germany, and Ukraine, held talks in Minsk that resulted in adopting agreements designed to stop the war in Donbas and provide a long-term political resolution of the conflict. During a Normandy Format summit in Paris in late 2019, all sides agreed that the Minsk agreements remain the basis for the resolution of the conflict.
However, despite the agreement, sporadic fighting has continued in the Donbas.
