Germany's Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that the Trilateral Contact Group, which mediates the situation in Donbas, must continue its work in the existing format.

"The Trilateral Contact Group must continue working in its format, and this format is right," she told a press conference after trilateral talks in Berlin on Monday.

She also said that the attendees of the Berlin meeting backed the Minsk agreements and the need to implement them.

"The Minsk agreements remain the foundation of the Ukrainian peace process," Merkel said.

At the same time, she said that monitors from the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) Special Monitoring Mission in Donbas have reported the failure of the side opposed to Kyiv of implementing the agreements, including those concerning the removal of heavy weapons.