German ambassador to Ukraine calls for giving fresh impetus to Minsk process

13:46, 04.07.2017 1 min read

There should be no search for an alternative to the negotiations conducted in the Trilateral Contact Group for Donbas, yet these negotiations should be given a fresh impetus, German Ambassador to Ukraine Ernst Reichel said at a conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.

"The opinion that the Minsk process has grown obsolete is now popular in Ukraine. Yet I invite you to speak up if you have a better idea than the Minsk process. These ideas should be realistic and aim to regain Donbas... What I think actually needs to be done is to give fresh impetus to the Minsk process rather than to think on its substitutes," Reichel said.

"It would be wrong to terminate or negate the Minsk process," he said.

Agreements to cease fire and pull back heavy weapons from the Donbas contact line have been breached more than once, he said.

Reichel also said that international efforts towards settling the Donbas conflict should be stepped up whenever possible.