DONETSK, July 8 (RIA Novosti) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has suggested holding the meeting of the contact group on Ukraine in the southeastern town of Sviatohirsk, the press service of the head of Donetsk reported.
"Yesterday, the people's deputy Boris Kolesnikov and I met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kiev. ... The president offered and guaranteed to hold the next round of talks between Russia, the OSCE, and the leadership of the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics in Sviatohirsk,” the press service said, citing Donetsk mayor Alexander Lukyanchenko.
On June 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke in favor of the third round of consultations between representatives from Kiev and the country’s breakaway southeastern regions.
Following talks between the four leaders, the foreign ministers of the four countries held a phone call, during which the sides formulated a four-party declaration, stipulating among other things, the urgent need to resume the work of the contact group.
The contact group consists of representatives of Russia, the OSCE, the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, and Ukraine.
On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference in Sofia that an agreement for the early convening of the full-fledged contact group on the Ukrainian crisis has not been made.
