Germany’s Maas, 3 other foreign ministers to hold video conference on Eastern Ukraine next week

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas will hold a video conference next week with his Russian, Ukrainian and French counterparts to try to secure progress in efforts to end the conflict in Eastern Ukraine.

Maas said on Wednesday that he had spoken with them in recent days. “We noted, and no one disputed this, that significant parts of the decisions from the summit in Paris have not yet been implemented,” AP quoted him as saying.

The four countries’ leaders met in Paris in December and agreed to revive the peace process in Eastern Ukraine. “It is important to give a new impetus to the decisions and the implementation of the decisions,” Maas said.

Germany and France brokered the 2015 peace agreement for Eastern Ukraine that was signed in Minsk, Belarus. Last week, Kiev and the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk exchanged 34 prisoners.