A tripartite meeting between President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Federal Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz and President of France Emmanuel Macron took place in Brussels.
The President of Ukraine thanked Germany and France for their strong support for Ukraine against the background of the military threat from Russia, as well as for the consistent efforts of these countries in the framework of the Normandy format talks.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine does not give in to any provocations at the border, does not have any aggressive intentions towards other parties and remains committed to diplomatic means of resolving the situation.
"I expect that Russian troops and weapons will be withdrawn from Ukraine's borders as soon as possible. So far, despite ongoing diplomatic efforts, they remain near our borders," the President said.
The parties agreed on the need to continue active work in the Normandy format and to ensure the implementation of the decisions adopted by the four parties at the summit in Paris on December 9, 2019. Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that this primarily concerns such urgent measures to stabilize the situation in the conflict zone as ensuring compliance with the ceasefire, mutual release of detainees and the opening of two new checkpoints.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron agreed to make every effort to achieve real progress in stabilizing the situation in Donbas and called on the Russian party to resume constructive work in the Normandy format.
