Deputy Head of the Delegation of Ukraine to the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) Oleksiy Reznikov has reaffirmed Ukraine's position on the procedure of building peace and holding elections in the territory of Donbas: first Russia should transfer control over the Ukrainian-Russia border and only after that it will be possible to deal with political issues.

"It is impossible to hold elections at the point of a gun. Safety goes first, control over the border has to be returned to the Ukrainian government, possibly with the help of some international institutions, but any way it has to be as follows: control, safety and only then local elections," he said during a meeting of Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak and members of Ukraine's delegation to the TCG with the media on Thursday.

Reznikov also said that the new composition of the country's delegation to the TCG is balanced now as it includes parliamentarians and government officials. He said this will help to strengthen Ukraine's positions, while the presence of representatives of various agencies in the delegation will help to make its work transparent.

Yermak said that the decision to create such a delegation was caused by the lack of progress in the negotiation process and the willingness of Ukraine to intensify the work of the TCG. He also said that the official sides of the negotiation progress did not change.

"I would like to recall that three sides are represented in the Trilateral Contact Group today. To avoid any arguments, they did not change – these are Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE. There are no other representatives in the TCG," he said.

Yermak also noted that Ukraine's partners in the Normandy Format (France, Germany, Russia) and the OSCE were informed about the decision to form such a delegation and it has been confirmed by respective decree of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

He also said that TCG continues working in four working groups on security, political, humanitarian and economic issues.

He emphasized that Ukraine has serious intensions and it wants to move forward in the peace building process.