Change in tactics? Poroshenko calls for urgent Contact Group session to achieve ceasefire

© Sputnik. Mikhail Palinchak

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has stressed that the Contact Group on Ukraine has to hold an urgent session in order for a ceasefire to be achieved in the southeast of the country by Tuesday, the official website of the Ukrainian president informs.

According to the website, Poroshenko stressed "the important role of the Trilateral Contact Group and expressed hope that [Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office] Heidi Tagliavini would continue her important work despite the completion of Switzerland's chairmanship in the OSCE".

"At the same time, the President emphasized that the session of the Trilateral Contact Group had to be held as soon as possible in order to achieve the ceasefire already on December 9," the website added, saying that Poroshenko made the remarks during a meeting with Tagliavini on Sunday.

According to the website, Tagliavini said that the Minsk agreements, which comprise the September 5 protocol and the September 19 memorandum are "the basis for the peaceful resolution of the situation in the Donbas".

On Sunday, Kiev said that the next meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine was to take place on Tuesday, December 9, excluding the possibility of a date shift.

The Contact Group includes representatives from Ukraine, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's republics (DPR, LPR), as well as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and Russia.

The conflict in Ukraine escalated in April, when Kiev launched a military operation against independence supporters in the country's southeast. On September 5, during a Contact Group meeting in Minsk, a ceasefire deal was reached between the two sides. However, numerous breaches of the ceasefire regime have been reported since then, with both Kiev forces and independence fighters accusing each other of violating the truce.