Merkel Sees Only Diplomatic Solution to Ukraine Crisis

Merkel, who visited the Ukrainian capital Kiev together with her French counterpart Francois Hollande Thursday, said ahead of the talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Kremlin that a diplomatic solution was considered as the only option for the Ukrainian crisis settlement.

“We don’t know if we’ll be successful today or if further talks will be necessary, if the discussions in Moscow will be long or short and if these are the last talks,” Bloomberg quoted the German leader as saying.

She said that any discussions that start questioning the territorial integrity of Ukraine were “completely ruled out.”

“We can only do what’s in our power to do. Things are in flux and we’ll attempt everything we can to bring about a solution to this conflict,” Merkel said.

Kiev-led forces and independence supporters in Donbas managed to reach a breakthrough ceasefire agreement in September 2014 during peace talks in Minsk, the capital of Belarus.

However, the violent clashes between the warring sides intensified severely in the beginning of 2015, causing numerous casualties among civilian population.

In late January, the Contact Group on Ukraine resumed efforts to find peaceful solution to the Ukrainian crisis and gathered in Minsk for a new round of talks. The negotiations, however, failed to yield any results.