Foreign ministers from the Normandy Quartet countries have called on the sides in the Ukrainian conflict to appoint their representatives to the subgroups within the trilateral Contact Group for Ukraine as soon as possible.

"We call on the participants to urgently finalize an operational concept on the working groups within the Trilateral Contact Group as soon as possible," the chair of the Normandy format's ministerial meeting said in a statement.

"We agree that the four working groups on security; political process; humanitarian issues; and economic affairs and rehabilitation must be launched as soon as possible," the document says.

"The immediate appointment of participants by the sides and agreement on working group coordinators will facilitate a quick start of the working groups," it says.

"We task our Deputy Foreign Ministers/ Political Directors to continue to oversee the implementation of the Minsk Package, with a strong emphasis on a quick launch of the Working Groups and our continued support to their activities, as well as on the sustainable improvement of the security situation," the statement says.

The ministers also supported the efforts of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Special Monitoring Mission to de-escalate tensions in the village of Shyrokyne and near the Donetsk airport and called "on the sides to establish permanent and unfettered access to the SMM to implement its mandate and the Minsk agreements, and to continue and conclude the withdrawal of heavy weapons as soon as possible."