President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that during the negotiations in the Normandy format in Paris, he had felt the support of Germany and France, and noted the beginning of dialogue with Russia.
“We’ve been looking into each other's eyes for eight hours. I felt strong support from Germany - Mrs. Merkel - and from France. I am very grateful to them. They really supported us very much. I clearly understood that we have started a dialogue (with Russia - ed.). We can negotiate. It will not be fast. But it will happen. We have a pretty strong position: the war takes place in Ukraine, unfortunately. This is our land, our people,” the President said on The Right to Power program on 1+1, commenting on the results of the negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Paris.
According to him, during the negotiations of the Normandy Four, a lot of issues have been resolved, and the result of these agreements can be seen by the end of the year.
In particular, it is about the release of detained persons, which should take place in three stages.
“Now the first stage is the release of all those identified. Until the New Year - we believe in that. There will be a meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group on December 18 in Minsk where these lists will be discussed,” the Head of State said.
The second stage will be the release after approval of the lists by the International Committee of the Red Cross. "The militants did not allow Red Cross representatives to confirm the lists we have, but they were not agreed by that party. This will be the second step,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The third step is the return of detained persons from Russia and the occupied Crimea.
“The third step - we have discussed with the President of the Russian Federation that we need to resolve the issue of the citizens of Ukraine who are on the territory of Russia and Crimea. This will be another track. I think we will discuss it after the exchange of all agreed for all agreed,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.