Kiev – Ukraine will demand for ceasefire in Donbas, including the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko, has said.
“The peace deals reached in Minsk is the only available solution to the military conflict in Eastern Ukraine at the moment,’’ Poroshenko said on his page in Facebook on Sunday.
He said that he would continue to call for tougher Western sanctions against Russia if immediate ceasefire is not realised.
The leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine, known as the Normandy Four, had agreed to hold telephone meeting on Monday to discuss the conflict in Donbas after mediation by France.
The Normandy Four or the Normandy Format, was set up to resolve the Ukrainian crisis in accordance with peace deals reached in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, in February 2015.
The military situation in eastern Ukraine had escalated in the past few days, with both sides using heavy weapons prohibited in the Minsk agreement.
According to the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, no fewer than 13 Ukrainian government soldiers were killed in actions last week, which was rare in the past months.
Ukrainian media reported that the
meeting is expected to ease the tension in eastern Ukraine.
“But it is unlikely to lead to breakthrough on critical issues like: ensuring security in conflict zones, prisoner swap, control of Ukraine-Russian borders in the conflict area and the election in the regions under opposition’s control,’’ the report said.