Ukraine was aware of Deputy Chief of Staff of Russia's Presidential Executive Office Dmitry Kozak's recent visit to Berlin in advance and will know how this visit goes, and therefore it does not imply any games behind Kyiv's back, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

"Ukraine was aware of Kozak's visit in advance and will know how it passed. We and our partners have a rule: we don't make any decisions behind each other's backs. Therefore, we aren't talking about any games behind our back here. On the contrary, we're grateful to Germany for its efforts toward engaging Russia in dialogue and a search for constructive proposals," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry quoted Kuleba as saying in a statement shared with Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.

Obviously, Kozak's talks in Berlin were focused on the absence of progress in implementing the Minsk Agreements on Donbas, Kuleba said.

"Ukraine has demonstrated a proactive approach and determination to achieve a peaceful settlement, and it has proposed new initiatives, including a higher level of the parties' representation in the Trilateral Contact Group. Definitely, there will be progress if Russia takes a mutually constructive approach. This is why the meeting in Berlin was necessary. By the way, it's precisely in the vein of this logic that my German counterpart, Minister [Heiko] Maas, was able, following his conversation with me, to engage Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in negotiations in the Normandy format," he said.

Kozak said on the Rossiya-24 television channel on Wednesday that he had visited Berlin for negotiations on settling the conflict in Donbas. Kozak said the parties managed to agree on further steps that require interaction with representatives of Donbas and Kyiv, as well as in the Normandy format.

The consultations should provide a new incentive for the peace talks, he said.