German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to restart the Minsk peace talks which were concluded in 2015 with a plan for ending the violence in the Donbass region of East Ukraine. The agreements ended large-scale fighting but the conflict has continued with scores of people dying on both sides every month.
Merkel wants to bring together Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and newly-elected French President Emmanuel Macron, she requested to the Ukrainian government, in order to continue the peace process, reported ABC News.
The two leaders met in Berlin to discuss the issue today and Poroshenko declared at a joint news conference he sees no alternative to the Minsk accords to end the war.
“We will very quickly look for opportunities for the four heads of state and government — the three presidents and I — to establish contact,” Merkel told reporters on Saturday, according to a German government statement, reported Bloomberg news.
“Unfortunately, after a certain lull over the Easter period, we are seeing cease-fire violations on the rise again,” she said
