Kremlin Confirms Normandy Four Phone Talks on Ukraine on July 24

The Russian, German, French and Ukrainian heads of state will hold Ukrainian conflict settlement phone talks on Monday, July 24, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed to Sputnik on Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Poroshenko assumed on July 9 that a Normandy Four heads’ phone talk could be held later in the month and could contribute to arranging the leaders’ meeting. On July 15, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin forecast the phone conversation to take place during July’s last week and to focus on security and release of hostage among other issues.

"Yes," Peskov said after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko made the announcement earlier in the day.

Kiev entered into deadly armed confrontation with Donbass militia in 2014, after the self-proclaimed Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics (LPR and DPR) refused to recognize the new Ukrainian government that came to power in what they perceive to be a coup. The sides to the conflict continue to exchange fire, despite the ceasefire deal that reached in Minsk in February 2015. The peace deal was brokered by the so-called Normandy Four (Normandy Quartet) that comprises Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine.

According to the data, provided by the International Crisis Group in late June, approximately 10,000 people lost their lives in eastern Ukraine since the start of the conflict.