Spokesperson of the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on Donbas Oleksiy Arestovych, commenting on the statement of Federal Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel on the need to implement the "Steinmeier formula" into Ukrainian legislation, said that this is not necessary, since it is already spelled out in the law on special order for local self-government in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

"We are grateful to Germany and France for developing clusters to implement the Minsk Agreements. Our amendments to them do not contain such a position that first elections are held in ORDLO, and after Ukraine takes over control of the border. It's the opposite. But the paradox lies in the fact that the 'Steinmeier formula' has actually been implemented into Ukrainian legislation – it is spelled out in the law on special order for local self-government in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, adopted back in 2014 by the 10th paragraph. It is there," Arestovych said in a commentary to Interfax-Ukraine.

As reported, on July 12, German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel, during a joint briefing with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, announced the need to implement the "Steinmeier formula" into Ukrainian legislation in order to hold elections in ORDLO.