Alexander Zakharchenko, the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk people's republic (DPR), believes a representative of the Ukrainian president or the Verkhovna Rada should attend the Minsk negotiations on settling the crisis in the eastern part of the country.

"These negotiations are more about talking, but there have been no official contacts. I respect [former Ukrainian President] Leonid Kuchma, but there should be a person who would say: 'I am an official representative of the Ukrainian president or the Verkhovna Rada'," Zakharchenko told journalists on Tuesday.

He did not say when the next meeting in Minsk would take place and what its agenda is going to be.

It was reported earlier with reference to Denys Pushylin, a deputy head of the DPR Popular Council, that the participants in the Minsk contact group would hold a video conference on Wednesday, December 10, to plan a meeting date and discuss principal aspects of a peaceful settlement.

"The Minsk contact group participants will hold a Skype conference on December 10 to discuss key aspects of a peaceful settlement and are likely to set the date for a meeting in Minsk," Pushylin said.

"The contact group's Skype conference will be held at the OSCE's initiative. We will preliminarily discuss four issues at this conference, which would precede a Minsk meeting. These are the observance of the 'silence regime' and the withdrawal of artillery and multiple rocket launch systems, the exchange of captives in line with the lists agreed-upon earlier, the gradual lifting of Donbas's economic blockade by Ukraine, and the introduction of the Ukrainian law on Donbas's special status," Pushylin said.