23 Aug 2014 17:11

Ukraine contact group to reconvene - Merkel

KYIV. Aug 23 (Interfax) - A contact group for seeking a solution to the Ukrainian crisis is going to reconvene, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday.

Heidi Tagliavini, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's special representative for Ukraine, would oversee talks within the contact group format, which would bring together negotiators from the Ukrainian government and eastern Ukraine, Merkel told a joint briefing in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

Merkel slammed the eastern Ukrainian militias. "The terrorists have failed to comply with the ceasefire," she said.

She also called for tighter control of the Ukrainian-Russian border.