Merkel admits it’s necessary to hold talks on Ukraine with Russian president

France and Germany have listened to the Ukrainian vision of the situation in the Donbass region, but contacts with the Russian president on the issue are necessary, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Berlin on Monday following talks with Presidents of France and Ukraine Francois Hollande and Petr Poroshenko.

“We discussed many issues today”, we listened to the stance on them “from the Ukrainian angle,” the chancellor said. “We will also resume contacts with the Russian president. I do not rule out that a four-party meeting will take place,” Merkel noted.
According to the German leader, there are differences of opinion on Ukraine between the West and Russia which “should be necessarily settled.”
Merkel stressed that ceasefire agreements reached in Minsk, Belarus, in February, were “fundamental to peace in Ukraine” and they should not be called into question.

The chancellor also highlighted the importance of ceasefire monitoring by observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. She expressed concern about attacks on the OSCE observers, urging not to cast doubt on their work in eastern Ukraine.