Unlike Kiev, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande strongly oppose alienating Russia and siding with Poroshenko to oppose Moscow is out of the question, Tagesschau news service reported following the trilateral meeting.
"Three versus Russia? No, underscores the German government. One cannot cut ties with Moscow even if a new meeting [in the Normandy format] has not been scheduled yet. Poroshenko has to understand that Berlin and Paris count on diplomacy, including talks with all relevant countries," the media outlet noted.
Russia, Germany and France maintain that the Ukrainian civil war could only be solved through diplomatic means and not with a military solution. Ukrainian authorities do not have 100-percent faith in a peaceful resolution and have often asked the West to provide Kiev with lethal weapons.
The Minsk peace process is stalling and the August 24 meeting in Berlin was supposed to provide an impulse to accelerate it, Tagesschau asserted.
"The implementation of the deal is not going smoothly. The West demands that Kiev engage in talks with the self-defense forces and bring about the federalization of Ukraine," the media outlet stated.
