German foreign minister calls for reviving Minsk process following meeting with Zelensky
KYIV. May 30 (Interfax) - German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said following a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Thursday that the parties are thinking on how to add new momentum to the Minsk process to end the war in Donbas.
"Exactly using this good opportunity, we want to think how to revive the Minsk process so as to achieve the goal - the establishment of peace in the east, which the people there are longing for," Maas said at a news briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.
German experts will discuss chances to speed up the Minsk process, "because there has been some delay, and this can't be tolerated," Maas said.
He said he was convinced that peace in eastern Ukraine can be achieved within the framework of the Normandy format.
"We have reached agreement that, through negotiations be France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine in the Normandy format, we will be trying to implement the Minsk Agreements so as to achieve peace in eastern Ukraine after all. I think we can achieve this within this format's framework," he said.
Zelensky described peace in eastern Ukraine as his priority, and "we support him in this," he said.
Zelensky on Thursday also held talks with Jean-Yves Le Drian, the foreign minister of France, another country involved in the Normandy-format talks.