Germany, France, Russia stress Ukraine truce implementation

The leaders of Germany, France and Russia have underlined the importance of implementing a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine that was agreed under the Minsk agreements.

A German government spokesman said on Saturday that Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, had met in Hamburg on the sidelines of the Group of 20 major economies, known as the G20, and agreed that the Ukraine truce must be “implemented comprehensively.”

Meanwhile, the Kremlin complained that the Minsk accords were being implemented “too slowly,” stressing that there needs to be measures leading to a genuine ceasefire in Ukraine.

“There is an understanding that effective measures should be taken, which would lead to real ceasefire on the frontline and to ensure military hardware withdrawal,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

SS