French President Hollande urges detailed road map on Ukrainian conflict
French President Francois Hollande has called for a detailed road map for the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict.
Hollande's office issued a statement on Thursday, calling on all parties involved in the Ukrainian conflict to put efforts in drawing up a road map for peace.
The statement said the aim of such a road map would be to clearly set out the steps required for "the reestablishment of Ukraine's control of its border with Russia.”
The call came after Hollande held telephone talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
Also on Wednesday, the French president spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling on them to participate in an initiative aimed at organizing a summit on the Ukrainian conflict.
The Kremlin said on Thursday that it sees a chance of holding a "Normandy format" summit on the Ukraine conflict in the German capital of Berlin on October 19.
"Meetings of experts will be held, and a pretty serious discussion will take place. If these expert meetings end with a positive result, there will appear such a chance (for the summit)," Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told a conference call with reporters.
The so-called Normandy Four, which consists of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine, have met periodically since June 2014, seeking to resolve the crisis in Ukraine’s eastern regions.
This comes as Germany has played down the prospect of a summit on Ukraine, with Merkel’s spokesman saying further work was needed by advisers before any meeting was possible.
France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine are parties to a peace agreement signed in the Belarusian capital of Mink in February 2015. The deal was expected to put an end to months of violence in the eastern parts of Ukraine, which has claimed the lives of more than 6,500. Hostilities largely subsided through the deal but sporadic clashes continued between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russia forces, leading to a further 3,000 life losses.
Kiev blames the prolonged conflict on Moscow, saying Russia still supports forces fighting in the east. Russia denies any direct involvement, but says it will continue to support the ethnic Russian population of Ukraine’s east against the suppression of the government.
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