The Ukrainian side to the Trilateral Contact Group on Donbas settlement has put forward an initiative to make the hostages release issue the key one at the next meeting, Darka Olifer, spokesperson for Ukrainian representative to the Trilateral Contact Group Leonid Kuchma, has said.

"Due to a lack of progress in the matter of hostages release Ukraine offers to raise this issue as a key one at the next meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk, which is scheduled for September 21. We hope that this meeting will finally bring a specific result, the release of people," she wrote on Facebook following the meeting.

Moreover, Olifer said Ukraine called all sides to observe the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on involvement of children in armed conflicts during the work of the humanitarian subgroup. The document bans the involvement of minors in armed conflicts. Ukraine welcomes all initiatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross aimed to provide help to Donbas children, especially those who live in the 'grey' zone.

"At today's meeting the Trilateral Contact Group once again emphasized the necessity to open the checkpoint in Zolote on the side of the separate areas of Luhansk region," she said.

Olifer also said that the Trilateral Contact Group noted that the ceasefire regime announced on September 1, 2016, is mostly observed.

"The Trilateral Contact Group confirmed once again that the ceasefire regime should have an indefinite nature. Another videoconference is planned for September 13, where one of the main issues will be the reports of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission representatives and the Joint Center for Control and Coordination officers on observance of the permanent ceasefire," she said.

The Ukrainian side expressed concern due to the preparation for the primaries in the separate areas of Donetsk region during the meeting on Wednesday, Olifer said.

"Ukraine expressed concern with organization of the so-called primaries being prepared in the separate areas of Donetsk region. Such events do not comply with the Minsk Agreements," she said.

The economic subgroup also agreed to start the railway service on the Popasna-Stakhanov line, as well as on putting the Mykytivka-Mayorsk block in commission, she said.

"The agreement on starting the railway service on the Popasna-Stakhanov line, as well as the complete restoring and putting in commission of the Mykytivka-Mayorsk block was made as part of the economic subgroup's work. The service on these two directions is necessary to supply coal to the Ukrainian central heating and power plant," she said.