Russia, Ukraine agree on 'unconditional truce' in Donbas region during Paris talks

Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday agreed at four-way talks in Paris that all parties should observe a ‘ceasefire’ in the east of Ukraine after indulging in talks for over eight hours. According to Sputnik, Kremlin Deputy Chief of Staff Dmitry Kozak said that all sides agreed that “the truce must be observed unconditionally”. Moscow and Kyiv met in Paris in Normandy Format meeting, including representatives from France and Germany. The four nations, as per the report, made an inventory of the political problems related to Minsk agreements on the settlement in eastern Ukraine and agreed on a truce in Donbas.

At a press conference following the meeting, Kozak said, “In general, the first, perhaps, rather frank conversation to take inventory of all the problems that are associated with the implementation of the Minsk agreements and the settlement of the conflict.”

"We agreed that regardless of the discrepancies on the Minsk agreements that exist between Ukraine, representatives of certain regions of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the truce must be observed unconditionally, and the agreement that was signed on July 22, 2020, must be implemented both in letter and in spirit," he said, according to Sputnik.

Ukraine, Russia, Germany & France did not discuss summit of leaders

In addition to agreeing on the truce, the Kremlin Deputy Chief of Staff said that the political advisers of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France did not discuss organising a summit of the leaders of the country. Kozak told the reporters, “As for the summit of the Normandy format leaders, the issue has not been discussed today and, in principle, has not been initiated by anyone since September 17 last year, since there are insoluble contradictions in the Normandy format regarding the interpretation of the Minsk agreements”.

The Russian diplomat noted that at the last meeting of advisers to the Normandy Four leaders in September, “these contradictions were revealed” and added that it is possible to gather for the “next summit”. He was further quoted by Sputnik as saying, “Today there was a dialogue in order to eliminate these contradictions in the Normandy format and find all solutions. After they are found, we are sure that the decisions of the previous summit will be implemented. As soon as the results of the previous summit are implemented, everyone agrees that it will be possible to gather for the next summit.”

(Image: AP)