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Hollande, Merkel, Poroshenko call for immediate ceasefire in Ukraine

The three leaders "expressed regret over the failure of the Minsk meeting"

© Valeriy Sharifulin/TASS

PARIS, February 1. /TASS/. French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Sunday called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, the press service of the French president said.

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Contact Group on Ukraine ends talks in Minsk

The press service said Hollande had been speaking with Angela Merkel and Petro Poroshenko for 45 minutes to discuss the current situation in Ukraine. The French president expressed regret that no success had been reached at the talks of the Contact Group on Ukraine in Minsk on Saturday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel had a telephone conversation with French and Ukrainian Presidents, Francois Hollande and Petro Poroshenko, to discuss the situation in Ukraine, German government’s spokesperson Steffen Seibert said on Sunday.

The three leaders "expressed regret over the failure of the Minsk meeting," he said, adding that the Chancellor and the two presidents stressed the necessity of the soonest resumption of the Minsk consultations. Russia, according to Merkel, Hollande and Poroshenko, must exert influence on Donetsk and Luhansk militias so that they stop "blocking talks."

The German, French and Ukrainian leaders agreed that the top priority task was to reach an agreement on a long-term truce. They insisted that the settlement talks be based on the Minsk agreements of September 2014, the German government spokesperson said.

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Ukraine Angela Merkel Pyotr Poroshenko Francois Hollande

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