Ukraine Reaffirms Intention To Engage US In Donbas Peace Process - Kiev

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th October, 2021) Ukraine has reiterated the importance of the involvement of the United States in negotiations on the resolution of conflict in the breakaway region of Donbas, the Ukrainian presidency said on Friday.

"Andriy Yermak ... stressed the importance of U.S. involvement in the negotiation process for a peaceful resolution in the east of Ukraine," the official statement said, following a meeting between the head of the Ukrainian presidential office and Robin Dunnigan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Central and Eastern Europe at US State Department.

Dunnigan, in turn, noted the importance of reforms in Ukraine, including in the fight against corruption, and confirmed Washington's commitment to supporting Kiev in this matter, the statement said.

The two officials also discussed cooperation in the energy sector, as well as security concerns linked to the launch of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, according to the president's office.

Yermak further expressed the hope that the US would continue backing the so-called Crimean Platform, an international initiative of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss ways to "reclaim" Crimea after it reunited with Russia in 2014 following a public referendum.

In April 2014, the Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation against the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and its neighboring Luhansk People's Republic after they proclaimed independence from Ukraine and refused to recognize the new central government, which came to power after what they considered to be a coup.

The resolution of the conflict has been discussed in various formats, including through the so-called Normandy Group involving Russia, France, Germany, and Ukraine.