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Leaders of France and Germany call on Ukraine to adopt reforms — Elysee Palace

French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko held telephone talks

PARIS, April 15. /TASS/. The leaders of France and Germany has called on Ukrainian authorities to achieve quick results in introducing reforms in the country and implementing the Minsk Agreements, the Elysee Palace said in a statement on Friday after telephone talks between French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

The French and German leaders "pointed to a need to achieve quick progress in the implementation of the Minsk agreements," it said.

"It is important that the new dynamic that emerged after the change in the government leads to concrete results," the statement added.

"It is necessary to concentrate effort on ensuring security, and thus - observance of the ceasefire regime, as well as on release of prisoners, on humanitarian issues, on ensuring conditions for a political settlement of the crisis, which is first of all connected with the holding of elections in eastern Ukraine," the statement said.

The Minsk accords were signed on 12 February 2015, after negotiations in the so-called "Normandy format" in the Belarusian capital Minsk, bringing together Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The package of measures envisages ceasefire, weaponry withdrawal, prisoner exchange, local election in Donbass, constitutional reform in Ukraine and establishing working sub-groups on security, political, economy and humanitarian components of the Minsk accords.