Ukrainian Foreign Minister calls the meeting between US representative Volker and Putin's aide Surkov fruitless
At a joint briefing with the Italian Foreign Minister, OSCE Chairman Angelino Alfano in Kyiv, Pavlo Klimkin, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, said that the last meeting of Kurt Volker, US State Department Special Representative, and Russian Presidential Assistant Vladislav Surkov was fruitless, Ukrinform reports.
"I am in constant contact with our American friends and allies. Several times I spoke with Kurt Volker before meeting with Surkov and yesterday too. Unfortunately, during the meeting (on January 26 in Dubai), no result was achieved, " Klimkin commented.
He added that Ukraine will nevertheless consistently pressure Russia to implement the logic of the roadmap for settling the situation in the Donbas.
"I hope that the latest developments, including those from the American side, will also" help "Russia to understand that its proposals for bodyguards for SMM (Special Monitoring Mission) don’t make any sense, but a real peacekeeping mission is needed," Klimkin stressed.
Earlier, Kurt Volker, the US Special Representative for Ukraine, reported that during the meeting he handed to Vladislav Surkov, the presidential assistant, the names of some Ukrainian hostages for inclusion in the list of the next exchange.