German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed hope before the talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday that a complete ceasefire will be established in eastern Ukraine by the beginning of an academic year in September.
MESERBERG (Germany) (Pakistan Point news / Sputnik - 18th August, 2018) German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed hope before the talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday that a complete ceasefire will be established in eastern Ukraine by the beginning of an academic year in September.
"We are already working on this a lot. Minsk agreements remain [in effect]. Although we must state that we do not yet have a stable truce. I hope that now, by the beginning of the new academic year, a new attempt to secure truce would be made," Merkel said.
Merkel added that she would discuss the deployment of UN peacekeepers to Donbas at the meeting with Putin.
"Today, we will talk about the prospects of setting up a UN mission, which could play a role in the peace process. Germany is ready to bear responsibility here," Merkel underlined.
At the same time, Putin reiterated Russias commitment to implementation of the Minsk accords on the Ukrainian crisis, but noted that no tangible progress has been achieved so far.
"Of course, we will talk about Ukraine, as the Federal chancellor has said, in the context of the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, which, unfortunately, does not move forward," Putin said, adding that Moscow is interested in cooperation with Berlin and other parties to the Normandy Four format on the Ukrainian crisis.
