Brussels, 25/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - During a phone conversation late on 23 May, the French, German, Russian and Ukrainian leaders - François Hollande, Angela Merkel, Vladimir Putin and Petro Proshenko - spoke of the importance of implementing all the measures needed for consolidating the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, according to press releases published by the different leaders' press departments. Seven Ukrainian soldiers were killed and nine injured in fighting between 23 and 24 May - the heaviest toll in a single day since the start 2016.
During their phone conversation, the four leaders reiterated “their determination to do their utmost so that the Minsk agreements might be fully applied as soon as possible”, according to the French president's press release.
The French presidency underlined the importance of taking action for the withdrawal of weapons and planning for the disengagement of forces and the release of prisoners, while the Russian president's office said that the four leaders had insisted on “strengthening the performance of the OSCE monitoring mission in the conflict zone by giving it additional powers” and the consolidation of the joint control and coordination centre. According to the Ukrainian presidency, the four leaders backed the idea of deploying an OSCE police mission in Donbass, and the start of negotiations on this.
Merkel said that in addition to security issues, the four leaders had spoken about the preparations for local elections in Donbass, in respect of Ukrainian law and OSCE standards. “The four leaders agreed to step up their cooperation on the security issues and elections, so as to make quick progress”, Merkel's office announced. Nevertheless, during a meeting in Brussels with several journalists, including from EUROPE, on Wednesday 25 May, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze said that for Ukraine, security and access to humanitarian aid in the east of the country were prerequisites for the Ukrainian Parliament to work on the electoral law. “Humanitarian and security matters are very far from being even fragile-y positive in order to start a political discussion on the law”, she warned.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko was released on 25 May, in exchange for two Russian intelligence officers who had been taken prisoner. High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini hailed this release. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)