UN Hopes Normandy Four Meeting To Help End Ukraine Conflict - Spokesman

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th September, 2019) The United Nations backs a proposed meeting in the so-called Normandy Four format as a chance to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine, UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Tuesday.

"We very much hope that those [meetings] will take place, that they will be productive," Dujarric said in a press briefing.

The Normandy format talks, involving Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine, were established in 2014 to mediate the conflict in Donbas. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has recently called for an urgent Normandy Four meeting in the light of escalating tensions in the conflict zone.

On Monday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters in Moscow that France hopes to arrange a meeting of the four nations in Paris "in the coming days.

"

Also on Monday, Ukraine Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko told reporters Zelenskyy is ready to meet as soon as this month.

Zelensky pledged in his presidential campaign to negotiate an end to the Donbas conflict, which the UN estimates has killed at least 3,300 people since the fighting erupted in April 2014.

The Normandy Four represents one of several initiatives to negotiate an end to the conflict, including mediation efforts by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, as well as the 2014-15 Minsk agreements.