Head of the President's Office of Ukraine Andriy Yermak said that Ukraine is actively insisting on holding the regular meeting of the leaders of the Normandy Four, since the war continues on Ukrainian territory, and all political decisions are made at the level of the leaders.
"Such a meeting should take place as soon as possible. In this we are supported by our partners in the Normandy format, Germany and France. We believe that this is extremely necessary in order to move forward and do what the Ukrainian people is waiting for," he said during a speech at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs (UK) on Thursday, the presidential press service said.
Yermak said that the negotiation process continues, and next week a videoconference of political advisers to the leaders of the states may take place. "We will talk about holding the summit as soon as possible, and there have already been some decisions," he said.
The head of the President's Office said that today Ukraine fully complies with the agreements reached at the summit of the Normandy Four in Paris, and international partners see this. According to him, Russia must also fulfill the agreements reached earlier.
"Either Russia is really ready to end this war, or it must say that it is not ready for this," he said.
Yermak said that since the previous summit of the Normandy Four, four new points of disengagement of forces and equipment on the demarcation line in Donbas have been agreed, 20 sites for mine clearance have been practically agreed. An agreement was also reached on the access of representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross to places of illegal detention of persons in territories not controlled by the Ukrainian authorities, but this agreement has not yet been fulfilled.
"Unfortunately, today, for several months now, mutual release has not occurred precisely because the opposite side does not agree on the lists. Some obstacles are constantly being made for this. Now they say that they are allegedly prevented from doing this by the Verkhovna Rada decree on local elections. But we constantly emphasize that this is nonsense: how can such a humanitarian issue as the life and health of people depend on the document?" he said.
