First Vice Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Iryna Gerashchenko has said that the Ukrainian side at the Normandy Four foreign ministers meeting in Minsk insisted on liberating all hostages before Christmas.
”The Ukrainian side insists on liberating all hostages before Christmas and the beginning of the new year of 2017. The process of releasing hostages has to be unblocked. Germany and France support this position. But liberation fully depends on the Russian Federation, while the representative of this country once again avoids giving specific answers and is not ready to take decisions regarding key humanitarian issues,” Gerashchenko wrote on Facebook.
”Ukraine has appealed to the Normandy format countries to authorize the humanitarian group to find an agreement before Christmas and the beginning of the new year of 2017, and to agree on the dates of liberation at the upcoming meeting, and to release hostages. We have made certain suggestions regarding the liberation,” she said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, on November 29, Minsk hosted the meeting of ministers of foreign affairs of Ukraine, Germany, France and Russia. They discussed security issues and humanitarian issues of Donbas settlement.
