MOSCOW, December 17 (Sputnik) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has held a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, discussing the situation in Donbas (Ukraine's southeastern regions), Kremlin's press service announced Wednesday.
Kremlin's statement stressed "the importance of a swift meeting of the Contact Group with the aim of implementing the Minsk agreements and facilitating dialogue between Kiev and [Ukraine's] southeast".
"The issues of the economic recovery of the affected regions [Donbas] and the provision of humanitarian and social support to the [local] population have [also] been discussed," the statement added.
Donbas has been severely affected by the military operation launched by Kiev forces in spring against local independence supporters, who refused to recognize Ukraine's new government, which came to power as a result of a coup at the end of last year.
In September, a ceasefire deal was reached between the two sides during a meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine in the Belarusian capital, Minsk. Representatives of Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) were present at the meeting, which was followed by another Minsk gathering, where a memorandum specifying the ceasefire was agreed upon.
Apart from contributing to the establishment of peace in Ukraine by attending the Minsk Contact Group meetings, Russia has also provided humanitarian aid to the residents of Ukraine's southeast. Since August, nine Russian convoys with over 11,000 tons of aid have been sent to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, hit by a humanitarian crisis.
