French ambassador: Only Normandy, Minsk formats can bring peace to Donbas

The Normandy and Minsk formats are the only ones that are capable of bringing peace to Donbas and reaffirming Ukraine's sovereignty within its internationally recognized borders, French Ambassador to Ukraine Etienne de Poncins states.

The ambassador assured that France will not abandon its attempts to find a way to establish peace in Donbas.

“We use a lot of energy and diplomatic tools to try to reach an agreement, and we will continue to do so. President Emmanuel Macron is fully committed to this position and spends a lot of time on phone conversations with Angela Merkel, President Zelensky and President Putin to try to find a way to peace. And we will not give up these efforts. We know that almost every day there are terrible casualties along the line of contact. We want to do our part so that they end and peace returns to Ukraine," the ambassador said.

As Ukrinform reported, the last meeting of the leaders in the Normandy format took place in Paris on December 9, 2019. In early July, Berlin hosted a meeting of political advisers to the leaders of the Normandy format countries. The Office of the President of Ukraine then stated that Ukraine, Germany and France at the meeting demonstrated their readiness to make every effort to implement the agreements of the Normandy format summit, reached in Paris, while Russia said it needs time to prepare its response.

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