Poroshenko, Hollande, Merkel, Putin agree on need to respect Minsk agreements to resolve situation in Donbas

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has held a phone conversation with French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin, reported Interfax-Ukraine.

"The sides discussed the situation in Donbas and the implementation of the Minsk protocol of September 5 and the Minsk memorandum of September 19. Petro Poroshenko, Francois Hollande, Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin agreed on the need to comply with all provisions of these agreements for the peaceful settlement of the situation in Donbas," reads the statement.

In addition, the sides called for the holding of a meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group to ensure progress on the implementation of the Minsk agreements by the end of the week.

"In particular, the agenda of the meeting of the Contact Group should include the issue of a ceasefire, retreat to the line of contact stipulated in the memorandum, the withdrawal of troops and heavy weaponry, as well as the speedy release of all hostages. The Ukrainian president also drew attention to the urgent need to release from a Russian prison MP Nadia Savchenko, whose health has deteriorated," reads the statement.

The presidents of Ukraine, Russia and France, as well as the German chancellor, agreed to continue telephone conversations in the Normandy format in a few days in order to maintain an active dialogue and track the results of the agreements that were reached in this format.