Leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France have vowed to push ahead with a peace plan to end the deadly conflict in eastern Ukraine, which has been the scene of fighting between Kiev’s troops and pro-Russia forces over the past three years.
On Monday, presidents of Russia, France and Ukraine, namely Vladimir Putin, Emmanuel Macron and Petro Poroshenko, as well as German Chancellor Angela Merkel held a four-way conversation on the latest developments in Ukraine’s mainly Russian-speaking regions, particularly Donbass.
The two-hour phone talks came amid escalating tensions in Donbass. Last week, pro-Russia forces announced their decisions to build a new state named Malorossiya (Little Russia) in the east.
In the conversation, the leaders stressed the importance of “a complete ceasefire” in Donbass, Poroshenko’s press service stated after the telephone conference.
It said the four also called for “heavy weapons withdrawal and…