08 September 2020, Tuesday, 14:05 137

Political Advisers To Normandy Format Countries Leaders Will Meet On September 11 - Zelenskyy

Даша Зубкова

Foreign policy advisers to the leaders of the Normandy Format countries (Ukraine, Russia, Germany, France) will hold a meeting on September 11.

This was announced by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his visit to Sumy region, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"We should have a meeting of the Normandy format advisers on September 11. We are expecting some proposals and decisions there," he said.

Commenting on the violation of the ceasefire in Donbas, Zelenskyy noted that the silence regime lasted 42 days.

“We reacted immediately. There are some things that we do not discuss with the media, because our task is to protect not one person, but 40 million lives of our Ukrainians, and this is the most difficult job today. I cannot communicate on this very superficially and respond because I am deep in it," he said.

Zelenskyy added that Ukraine has contacted Russia on this issue at several levels, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"Why are we going to talk about the number of urgent meetings on this provocation. A lot of things are being done and done, both by our military and intelligence officers," he said.

According to him, Ukraine will still do everything to maintain the regime of silence and avoid a large number of victims.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the Russian Foreign Ministry initially reacted briskly to his initiative to negotiate with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, but later informed about his urgent business trip to Syria and the postponement of the conversation for an indefinite time.

Kuleba connects the violation of the ceasefire in Donbas with the upcoming Ukrainian local elections and meetings in the Normandy Format.

After the meeting of the political advisers to the leaders of the Normandy Format countries, a meeting of the foreign ministers is to take place by October.

After these two meetings, it will be possible to hold a joint summit of heads of state.

Local elections will take place in Ukraine on October 25.