President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that an agreement on complete and comprehensive ceasefire on the delimitation line in Donbas should be signed by the leaders of the Normandy Four on July 27, which will increase its status and increase the chances of adhering to the agreements reached.
"We really have a lot of professionals who are in constant negotiations in the format of a meeting of the TCG (Trilateral Contact Group - ed.) and who have agreed on a very serious step for our whole country - a permanent ceasefire. This document is now awaiting signing by all parties to the Normandy Group. I believe that all parties - Ukraine, France, Germany and Russia - will sign it, and from the 27th, I believe the time may come when there will be a permanent ceasefire," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during a conversation with media near the checkpoint “Stanytsia Luhanska” as part of the working trip to Donbas.
The President noted that the agreement will be signed by the leaders of the Normandy Four, which increases the status of these agreements.
The President thanked the representatives of Ukraine in the Trilateral Contact Group, as well as Head of the President's Office Andriy Yermak, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov, Minister of Defense Andriy Taran and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Ruslan Khomchak for the efforts in achieving peace in Donbas. The President also thanked the OSCE for the difficult and important work within the TCG.
At the same time, Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that the agreements reached do not deprive the Ukrainian military of the opportunity for self-defense.
For his part, Ukrainian Defense Minister Andriy Taran added that Article 51 of the UN Charter gives the right to defend oneself. At the same time, he stressed that Ukraine has the political will to a permanent ceasefire, and expressed hope that the other side will also be able to demonstrate this.
The President noted that Ukraine is fulfilling its part of the Minsk agreements, and the whole world sees it. The other party must also demonstrate willingness to comply with them.
As for the details of the agreements reached on a permanent ceasefire on the delimitation line in Donbas, according to the President, they will be worked out separately by the TCG within the Minsk format.
"This is a generalized statement; we should just work in detail on this statement in the Minsk format - this is the agreement. In the Minsk format, everything should be written in detail: everyone who is responsible, when, how this information is transmitted. That is, it will be a separate story, it is very long," the Head of State said.
We want to decipher each point of "Minsk". Then we will see whether we are able to do it or not, how we will do it, who will be responsible," he added.
