Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's aide Andriy Yermak has said the summit of the Normandy Four leaders (Ukraine, Germany, France, and Russia) may take place in late September - early October.
In an interview with the Ukrainian online publication Livyi Bereh, he said the summit was necessary to ensure a personal meeting of presidents of Ukraine and Russia.
"It is important that they meet," Yermak said.
"Secondly, we have worked out certain steps within the negotiations in Minsk and the Normandy format, which should be taken by the leaders of four participating countries. Because the Normandy format was created to look for impulses and break the Minsk stalemate. It's difficult, slow, but the process is moving forward, an example is [disengagement of forces in] the village of Stanytsia Luhanska and mutual liberation [of held persons]," he said.
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Yermak also said Zelensky had set the vector for making every effort not to allow delays.
"Everyone picked up on this, and in order to support the impulse, we need this summit. During the last conversation, which lasted two hours and forty minutes, the leaders of the three countries, namely Germany, France, and Ukraine, spoke out in favor of holding the summit late this month, just after [the UNGA in] New York. Russia didn't confirm, but neither did they say no. I think it could be late September - early October," he added.
