A New "Norman Format" Meeting Is to Be Held Next Week

Negotiations with the participation of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine foreign ministers is to be held via videoconference, Heiko Mas stated. According to Ukraine, the discussion is tentatively scheduled for April 30. The foreign ministers of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine next week will discuss the situation in the Donbass in the "Norman format", German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Wednesday, April 22. According to the minister, he reached an agreement with the foreign ministers of the three other countries. Mas did not specify exactly when the videoconference is to take place, however, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the discussion was tentatively scheduled for April 30. According to Heiko Mas, he and his colleagues agreed that “a significant part of the Paris summit decisions has not been implemented,” and since the coordinated exchange of prisoners between Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists has finally been launched, these decisions and their implementation need to be given a “new impetus” . Based on the decisions of the Paris summit, Kiev and the self-proclaimed "republics" of Donbass twice arranged prisoners exchanging . The last exchange took place last week. During the negotiations in Paris, it was also decided to establish a new ceasefire and designate three new sections of the front line aimed at troops withdrawal. As a result of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, more than 13 thousand people have died since 2014.