Ukrainian Delegation, German Defense Minister Discuss Security Situation In Donbas - Kiev

(@FahadShabbir)

Ukrainian Delegation, German Defense Minister Discuss Security Situation in Donbas - Kiev

A Ukrainian delegation and German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer discussed during a Tuesday meeting in Berlin the security situation in the Donbas region, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said, adding that direct talks with the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk (LPR and DPR) in the country's east were unacceptable

KIEV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd June, 2020) A Ukrainian delegation and German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer discussed during a Tuesday meeting in Berlin the security situation in the Donbas region, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said, adding that direct talks with the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk (LPR and DPR) in the country's east were unacceptable.

Kuleba has previously said that the Ukrainian delegation, including the head of the presidential administration, Andriy Yermak, Minister for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories Oleksiy Reznikov and Defense Minister Andriy Taran, would pay a working visit to Berlin on Tuesday, during which the Donbas settlement issues, the country's integration with the EU, as well as granting Kiev the status of a member of NATO's Enhanced Opportunity Program, would be raised.

"The first meeting has already been held with the German minister of defense, a very influential person in the German government system. We talked about the security situation in the Donbas region for almost the whole time, 99 percent of the time," Kuleba said in a video address posted on his Facebook page.

According to the foreign minister, Kiev informed the German side about systemic ceasefire violations in eastern Ukraine.

"We reaffirmed our key positions on the inadmissibility of direct dialogue with representatives of the so-called DPR and LPR. We are talking to Russia within the contact group," Kuleba added.

Kiev launched a military operation against the breakaway republics in eastern Ukraine in 2014 after they refused to recognize the new Ukrainian government, which came to power after what they considered to be a coup and proclaimed independence from the country. The Trilateral Contact Group, which involves representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), aims to settle the conflict and has already facilitated several prisoner swaps between the sides.

A ceasefire deal between warring parties was signed in Minsk in 2015 following talks brokered by the leaders of the Normandy four states: Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France. Despite this agreement, however, sporadic fighting continues in Donbas.