Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky plans to discuss the following issues at a Normandy summit in Paris on December 9: a swap of prisoners, a ceasefire and the withdrawal of illegal armed formations from Donbas, eastern Ukraine.
"The first three steps that President Zelensky will bring up at a summit in Paris are the terms and conditions of the return of captured Ukrainians; a real, not fake ceasefire, and, of course, the withdrawal of foreign troops and illegal armed formations from the territory of Donbas," head of the press service of the Office of the President Yulia Mendel said on Facebook on Sunday, December 8.
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According to her, the first two questions are directly related to human life, and therefore they are the most important ones.
"The last is a condition for holding [local] elections in Donbas. They may take place along with elections throughout Ukraine only when there are no foreign troops and illegal armed groups there. This is what Ukrainian law and simple logic say: Ukrainian parties cannot enter Donbas, international observers cannot be there, people cannot vote openly and without bias, being at the barrel of a gun," she said.
"First, there should be our border, then the elections, because these are our territories, and the local elections will be held throughout Ukraine," she added.
As UNIAN reported earlier, on December 9, 2019, Paris will host a summit of the leaders of Ukraine, Germany, France, and the Russian Federation in the so-called Normandy format.
