Ukraine is in favor of stepping up negotiations in the Normandy format and is expecting a telephone conversation between the leaders of the countries involved in the format, Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada First Deputy Chairperson and Ukrainian representative to the Trilateral Contact Group's humanitarian subgroup Iryna Gerashchenko has said.

"It is highly important that both the president of Ukraine and German Chancellor [Angela] Merkel are in favor of intensifying the Normandy format. It means that we very much expect that a telephone conversation should be held between the Normandy format leaders. And certainly, we will also expect a meeting [to take place] when the schedules coincide," Gerashchenko told reporters in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Ukraine also expects a phone call to be arranged between the leaders of France and Ukraine, Gerashchenko said.

It was reported that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had said after his talks with the German chancellor on May 20 that work within the Normandy format, which involves Ukraine, Germany, France and Russia, would be intensified sometime soon.