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Kiev confirms positive dynamics at the Donbass Contact Group talks

The official noted on the importance of preserving the positive trend

© AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti

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Mechanism of Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine is working — Russian foreign ministry

KIEV, July 18. /TASS/. The Ukrainian side, just like Russia, is noting positive shifts in the talks of the Trilateral Contact Group on resolving the situation in eastern Ukraine held yesterday in Minsk, Ukrainian representative to the Contact Group's political sub-group Roman Bessmertny told a briefing on Thursday.

"It is important for us to keep up the positive dynamics," he commented on the results of the meeting.

According to the envoy, the dynamics becomes apparent if the talks are compared to those held in 2015. He believes that since then "discussion has disappeared on some issues" but there is also "something to work on and to be proposed" now.

Bessmertny thinks that the Contact Group needs to "primarily work on the social and humanitarian issues, such as people support and return of prisoners." "This will provide an opportunity to quickly and productively resolve security issues, shelling halt, while on the other hand it will enable the parties to build mutual trust, because it is now at the minimal level," he emphasized.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin earlier commended the positive dynamics at the Minsk talks. He particularly mentioned the ceasefire agreement effective from July 21 and positive change in the mode of the negotiations. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov lauded the decisions made in Minsk on Wednesday as important and expressed hope that they would be implemented.

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