The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has voiced hope for the resumption and intensification of the work of the trilateral contact group for a settlement in the country's east.

"We hope that the next few days, hours will see the intensification of the work of the trilateral contact group that in compliance with the understandings of the parties actually has all the powers to discuss this entire set of issues," Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Yevhen Perebyinis said at Wednesday's briefing in Kyiv.

He said that the Ukrainian side also hopes that contacts between the leadership of the border services of Ukraine and Russia will be established shortly to work out a clear algorithm for closing the border in the sections controlled by the militia.

The Foreign Ministry also counts on the establishment of direct contacts between the leadership of the General Staffs of the two countries. "As far as I know the first contact of the kind has already been established," he added.