At the meeting in Brussels, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker discussed prospects of the peaceful settlement in Donbas and emphasized the need for the full implementation of the Minsk agreements by all the parties.

Following the meeting with President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, President Petro Poroshenko emphasized that all parties to the Minsk agreements must take real steps and fulfill all the undertaken commitments to resolve the situation in Donbas. “We believe that the peace process must be real, not fake in its nature,” the Head of State noted.

In its turn, Ukraine complies with all provisions of the Minsk agreements and works over their implementation, as stated by the President. “We ensure the ceasefire regime, clear interaction with the OSCE, withdrawal of heavy weaponry and conduct the political process,” Petro Poroshenko stressed.

According to the President, constitutional process is also a component of Ukraine’s fulfillment of the Minsk agreements. The Head of State is hopeful that the Parliament will support constitutional amendments on decentralization suggested by him. “Thus, Ukraine will complete the fulfillment of the political component and we will wait for the discussion of the modality of the election process in Donbas” the President added.

At the same time, the President drew attention to the non-fulfillment of the agreements by Russia. “Russia doesn’t fulfill the Minsk agreements. Over the past day, 20 Ukrainian soldiers were killed, 7 of them by the artillery shelling prohibited by the Minsk agreements,” the President emphasized.

"The key to solving the current situation must be the immediate ceasefire, withdrawal of heavy artillery, immediate release of all hostages and immediate access to all the occupied territories, including the border, for the OSCE observers," Petro Poroshenko noted.

The President drew particular attention to the liberation of hostages. “I emphasized the demand to the Russian Federation to liberate all hostages, including Nadiya Savchenko and Oleh Sentsov, who was illegally sentenced in Russia for simply being Ukrainian,” he said.

Given the complicated developments in Donbas, the parties also discussed the consolidation of efforts for the achievement of peace in Ukraine. “We’ve discussed certain “red lines”, inter alia, non-holding of fake elections in Donbas on October 18 and November 1. We consider it a serious threat to the Minsk process and urge the Russian party to refrain from holding these elections,” the Head of State noted. The President expects further “introduction of personal sanctions against those responsible for the breach of the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, including the annexation of Crimea”.

When asked about the possible meeting in the Normandy format, the President noted that active communication in the mode of phone conferences is being held regularly. He does not rule out that "another phone conference can take place in the near future".

“We have a lot of topics to be discussed. I will certainly touch upon the liberation of Oleh Sentsov and other hostages, the issue of the ceasefire regime, civilian casualties, withdrawal of heavy weaponry and establishment of permanent OSCE posts that will guarantee compliance with the obligations,” the President said.

“France and Germany act according to the mandate provided by the EU Council and coordinate their actions with the United States and the EU leaders to ensure efficient implementation of the Minsk agreements in the course of the TCG meetings and the phone conversations in the Normandy format,” Petro Poroshenko added.

At the same time, the Head of State emphasized that “there will be no Minsk-3”, for there is a whole set of the Minsk agreements. “They are really comprehensive. The only thing to be done to achieve peace in Ukraine is to fulfill them,” Petro Poroshenko stressed.

The President also informed: Ukraine will start constantly raising the issue “either the establishment of the peacekeeping mission under the decision of the UN Security Council, or the establishment of the EU special mission”, which will also be submitted for consideration by the EU countries.

The President thanked for the unity demonstrated by our European partners and noted that the positions of the EU, France and Germany clearly confirm that “Ukraine fulfills all its commitments”.

“An important signal of our unity is that there is no alternative to the Minsk process based on my Peace Plan and approved by the UN Security Council, EU Council and the entire world,” the Head of State stressed.

Petro Poroshenko also thanked the European Commission for supporting the Ukrainian initiatives on the fulfillment of the Minsk agreements and the constitutional process. “The assistance of the European Commission’s experts is extremely important for us. I am pleased that my evaluation of the situation coincides with that of Jean-Claude Juncker,” the President said noting the importance of today’s meeting.

In his turn, the President of the European Commission expressed content with the visit of the Ukrainian President. “The Minsk agreements must be fulfilled. First of all, it is related to Russia, because it doesn’t seem that the Russian party observes its commitments on the stabilization of the situation in Ukraine,” he emphasized.