Poroshenko, Merkel Plan Trilateral Summit on Ukraine in Coming Days

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko agreed to convene a trilateral summit together with France’s President Francois Hollande soon, according to a statement released by Poroshenko’s office following a phone call held on Thursday.

KIEV (Sputnik) — The Ukrainian and German leaders "agreed to hold a trilateral conference between the leaders of Ukraine, Germany and France in the coming days," the statement read.

During their phone conversation, Merkel and Poroshenko reportedly discussed the situation in eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian president complained about an alleged rise in night-time attacks by militias and urged to deploy permanent OSCE monitoring missions along the line of contact.

Apart from the conflict, the two leaders discussed prospects for Ukrainian nationals traveling to the EU’s borderless Schengen area without visas and the ratification of the EU-Ukraine association agreement.

In 2014, the European Union signed an agreement with Ukraine to deepen political association and economic integration. Ukraine had to implement a series of political and economic reforms to gain free-trade access to the EU market. Currently, the Netherlands is the only EU state, which has not yet ratified the agreement.