Ukrainian Prez positively evaluates talks of Normandy format advisors

Kiev, Jan 28 (IANS) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has positively evaluated the talks of the Normandy format advisors that were held on Wednesday in Paris, the presidential press service has said in a statement.

"Zelensky positively assesses the fact of the meeting, its constructive nature, as well as the intention to continue meaningful talks in two weeks in Berlin," said the statement on the Ukrainian presidential website.

According to the statement, Zelensky emphasized that the sustainable and unconditional ceasefire in Donbas could be a basis for the next steps in the peace process, Xinhua news agency reported.

Advisors to the heads of state and government of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France met in Paris under the Normandy format and called for an unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine's conflict-hit Donbas region.

During the talks that lasted for about eight hours, the parties agreed on a joint statement, the first since December 2019, and decided to hold the next meeting in Berlin in two weeks.

The ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine, which has claimed the lives of some 14,000 people and left as many as 40,000 wounded, began in April 2014.