Petro Poroshenko, Francois Hollande and Angela Merkel held phone talks ahead of a ceasefire in southeastern Ukraine, which is due to come into force at midnight local time on February 15 (February 14, 10:00 p.m. GMT).
Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande have also discussed the importance of strict observance of ceasefire in Donbas by all parties to the conflict during a phone conversation, the Kremlin press service said.
"The leaders have stressed the importance of strict observance by the conflicting parties of all the provisions of the complex of measures aimed toward the peaceful settlement of the situation in southeastern Ukraine, which was adopted by the Contact Group on February 12 in Minsk," the statement published on the Kremlin's official website said.
According to the Kremlin press service, the three leaders also reiterated their agreement to hold phone talks in "Normandy format."
Putin, Merkel, Hollande and Ukrainian President Poroshenko held the most recent Normandy format talks in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, on Wednesday and early Thursday. The 16-hour meeting resulted in new political deal aimed at peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict.
On February, 15, in accordance with the new Minsk agreements, Kiev forces and independence supporters of Donbas have ceased hostilities. The truce between Kiev forces and independence supporters in Donbas is one of the agreements reached by the leaders of Ukraine, France and Germany and Russia on February 12 after 16-hour talks aimed at deescalation of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Other Minsk agreements stipulate the creation of a buffer zone between the warring sides through the withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the region, Kiev's decentralization of power, which may lead to more liberal arrangements for the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and all-for-all prisoner exchange.
