Leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France & Germany address media after talking eastern Ukraine peace in Paris (WATCH LIVE)
The leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine have agreed to implement “ceasefire support measures” for eastern Ukraine and “stabilize” the region by the end of the year.
The four leaders are holding a joint media conference after the so-called Normandy Format negotiations on transition to peace in eastern Ukraine.
Following a meeting in Paris, the leaders said in a joint communique that they agreed to “immediate measures to stabilize the situation in the conflict area in east Ukraine.” Previous attempts by the ‘Normandy Four’ group to simmer down the conflict have achieved mixed results at best.
The latest plan is short, and reaffirms the parties’ commitment to the 2014 and 2015 Minsk agreements to wind down the conflict, albeit with some new measures. Among these new additions are the release of prisoners on each side by the end of the year, and the creation of three new disengagement areas.
Monday’s meeting was the first face-to-face between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the newly-elected Ukrainian’s first major test on the world stage. In a brief comment to reporters before sitting down to dinner with all three participants, Putin said he was “happy” with how the talks went.
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The four Normandy leaders – with both Ukraine and France under different leadership – last met in 2016, with the aim of implementing the previously agreed-upon Minsk Protocols for winding down the conflict. However, little progress has been made since toward this end. Times have changed since 2016 though, and unlike his predecessor, the fiercely anti-Russian Petro Poroshenko, Zelensky has pushed for reconciliation.
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