BERLIN, December 17. /TASS/. The German government insists on the diplomatic settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, spokesman for the German Cabinet Steffen Seibert said in Berlin on Wednesday.

“The supplies of lethal weapons (to Ukraine) are not discussed. The conflict cannot be settled by military means. We don’t want to create an illusion to the contrary,” he said. “The peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis” is a priority for Germany, Seibert said.

He also welcomed the preservation of the ceasefire regime in the east of Ukraine “for the most part, but not fully.” Seibert also said that the meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine may serve as a base for the settlement of the situation in the country and fulfilment of the Minsk agreements. The government official added the EU would continue to support Kiev authorities and this support would be aimed at the improvement of the country’s economic situation.

Representatives of Ukraine, Russia, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) signed the Minsk Protocol, an agreement to halt the war in the Donbas region of Ukraine, on 5 September 2014. It was signed after extensive talks in Minsk, Belarus, under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The agreement, which followed multiple previous attempts to stop fighting in the Donbas, implemented an immediate ceasefire, however, failed to fully stop fighting in Donbas.

A German Foreign Ministry representative said for his part that “neither the toughening or easing of the sanctions” against Russia in connection with the situation in the republic was currently under consideration.