Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has expressed hope that negotiations in Minsk at a meeting with leaders of the Eurasian troika (Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan) and representatives of the EU will be success.
“We hope that positive results [at a meeting in Minsk on August 26] will be achieved, and we have certain time limits,” he said at a joint briefing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Kyiv on Saturday.
He said that in September the Association Agreement will be submitted to the Ukrainian parliament.
The president said that the implementation of Ukraine’s Association Agreement with the EU will be discussed at the meeting.
“This will be a unique case when such a representative delegation from the EU is taking in the negotiations of such level jointly with Ukraine,” the head of state said.
He said that the issues of peaceful settling the situation in the eastern part of Ukraine will be discussed in Minsk.
“As for the peace process, we’re discussing the implementation of my peaceful plan, which includes decentralization, amnesty mechanisms, mechanisms of restoring infrastructure and mechanisms giving certain social guarantees. I’m sure that finally it’s time when we should stop talking about war and start talking about peace,” the president said.
He said that the situation over the past months has considerably changed and the population of Donbas does not anymore support mercenaries being present on their territory and who have brought the war to them.
