At the meeting in Brussels, President Petro Poroshenko and President of the European Council Donald Tusk discussed the situation in Donbas and the steps required for de-escalation. They also underlined the need for the implementation of the Minsk agreements.

“Constant shelling must be immediately terminated and the peace process must be given a chance for a breakthrough,” Petro Poroshenko said at the press conference.

The Head of State welcomed the achievement of the agreement on the establishment of ceasefire on September 1, but he doesn’t understand why the ceasefire cannot be achieved immediately.

The President emphasized that the non-compliance with the Minsk agreements requires a strong and consolidated response. He is hopeful that “the EU will prolong sanctions against individuals and legal entities responsible for the breach of territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine in September”.

Petro Poroshenko and Donald Tusk called the verdict of the Russian court for Oleh Sentsov and Oleksandr Kolchenko unacceptable and ungrounded. The President of the European Council underlined the inadmissibility of illegal detention of Ukrainian and EU citizens on the territory of Russia. “Sentsov, Kolchenko, Savchenko and all other Ukrainians held illegally in Russia, as well as EU citizens, such as Eston Kohver, are blatant acts of injustice,” Donald Tusk said.

The parties discussed an opportunity of increasing the presence of the EU in the Minsk process.

The President emphasized that Ukraine makes every effort to implement its commitments under the Minsk agreements in full. “The support of President of the European Council Donald Tusk, President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel and President of France Francois Hollande for the constitutional amendments on decentralization is extremely important for me,” Petro Poroshenko noted. He particularly stressed that Ukraine used the experience of Poland in holding the decentralization reform. The President of the European Council expressed support to the constitutional reform that will “help conduct decentralization and accelerate judicial reform”.

The parties discussed the situation with the occupied Crimea. “President Tusk assured that the EU complies with the policy of non-recognizing the illegal annexation of Crimea and makes consolidated efforts to restore sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within the internationally recognized borders,” Petro Poroshenko said.

The parties also discussed full establishment of FTA between Ukraine and the EU. The President once again emphasized joint position that the issue cannot be postponed and the FTA must start functioning in full on January 1, 2016. The Head of State thanked Donald Tusk for supporting Ukraine in the issue of the visa-free regime. In his turn, Donald Tusk expressed content with the progress of Ukraine in this issue: “We want free movement between Ukraine and the EU as soon as possible”.