"The second round of Contact Group talks concluded in Luhansk with representatives from the [Ukrainian Armed Forces, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and LPR]," a press center statement reads.
The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) did not take part in the talks, which were classified by Denis Pushilin, the republic's envoy at the Minsk peace talks, as a regular meeting to allow for military action plan corrections. Pushilin reiterated that a more technical session, with all Contact Group delegations in attendance, took place Monday.
The Contact Group convened last Wednesday for a fresh round of reconciliation talks, in which discussions reportedly focused on the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of contact between conflicting parties in southeast Ukraine, prisoner swaps and an end to Kiev's "economic blockade" of the DPR and LPR.
The Contact Group's previous Ukraine meetings took place in Minsk on September 5 and 19, resulting in a ceasefire agreement between DPR, LPR and Kiev.
Ukrainian reconciliation talks have taken place in the so-called Normandy, Minsk, Geneva and Weimar formats so far. The Minsk format grants participation rights to DPR and LPR, and have proven to be effective, with the sides managing to agree on a contentious ceasefire at a Minsk format meeting on September 5.
