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Zelensky says offered Biden formats of US involvement in Donbass settlement

He did not say however whether he meant involving the United State into the Normandy format

KIEV, September 2. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said after talks with US President Joe Biden on Wednesday he suggested several formats of involving the United States to the settlement of the conflict in Donbass.

"We spoke about Donbass. I offered formants of the implementation of US representatives at the presidential level into the format of the settlement of the conflict, war in Donbass. The United States will think over my initiative because I did not share these details before the meeting," he told a briefing after the talks, which was aired by the Ukraina-24 television channel.

He did not say however whether he meant involving the United State into the Normandy format (Germany, France, Russia, and Ukraine).

The Ukrainian president has repeatedly called for involving the United States into the Normandy Four talks on the conflict settlement or for creating an alternative format with the United States’ participation. The US side has not yet expressed any intentions on that matter.

A peace settlement of the conflict in Donbass rests on the Package of Measures, known as Minsk-2, that was signed by the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine comprising senior representatives from Russia, Ukraine and the European security watchdog OSCE on February 12, 2015, after 16-hour marathon talks between the leaders of the Normandy Four nations, namely Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine. The 13-point document envisages a ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and the people’s militias in the self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Lugansk and the subsequent withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of contact. The deal also lays out a roadmap for a lasting settlement in Ukraine, including amnesty, prisoner swaps, resumption of economic ties, local elections and constitutional reform to give more autonomy to the war-torn eastern regions.

The plan has remained unimplemented to this day, largely due to Ukraine’s stance. Kiev keeps on refusing to act on the political items of the agreement.