"The year 2015 will not be an easy one, and I believe it will go down in history as a year of in-depth reforms that will put us on track toward EU membership. It is our dream that we will make come true together. But today, I would mostly like to wish for a long-awaited and lasting peace," Poroshenko said.
The Ukrainian president described the outgoing year as the most difficult one in Ukraine's past 70 years that followed the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War.
The most recent meeting between the warring parties took place on December 31 in the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic. The talks were described as a regular meeting to correct military action plans.
The Contact Group's initial Ukraine meetings took place in Minsk on September 5 and 19, and resulted in a ceasefire agreement between Kiev and the two breakaway republics, although the parties have repeatedly accused each other of violating the truce.
