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German, French top diplomats to visit Ukraine February 7, Donbass trip planned — diplomat

Next week, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba will have talks with the foreign ministers of Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Oleg Nikolenko revealed

KIEV, February 1./TASS/. The foreign ministers of Germany and France will visit Ukraine on February 7, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Oleg Nikolenko told a briefing on Tuesday.

"The foreign ministers of Germany and France will arrive in Ukraine on February 7," he said, specifying that a trip to Donbass would be organized within the framework of their visit.

Nikolenko mentioned a series of visits by foreign delegations to Ukraine at the present time. In particular, the prime ministers of the UK, Poland and the Netherlands are on a visit to Ukraine on Tuesday. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is expected in Ukraine shortly. "Next week, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba will have talks with the foreign ministers of Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia," the spokesman added.

He explained this activity as Kiev working with international partners "to deter the Russian Federation from a further escalation."

There has been a flurry of statements in the West and Kiev lately that Russia could invade Ukraine. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said they were made to whip tensions in the region and that Russia didn’t threaten anyone. At the same time, he didn’t rule out provocations to corroborate these Western statements and warned that the use of force to resolve the crisis in southeastern Ukraine would have serious consequences.

Russia proposed concluding legally binding agreements with the US and NATO that would provide mutual security guarantees due to the ongoing "military development" of the Ukrainian territory by the alliance. There have been several rounds of talks, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov telling US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during an in-person meeting that Russia wasn’t going to attack Ukraine.

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