Berlin does not recognize the Ukrainian territories occupation

During the working visit to Germany, the Minister of Defense Andriy Taran, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba, the Deputy Prime Minister – Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Oleksiy Reznikov and the Head of the President of Ukraine Office Andriy Yermak took part in the meeting with the Federal Minister of Defence Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. This was reported by the Office of the President of Ukraine.

During the meeting, the German Defense Minister noted that Ukraine was a friend of Germany. Berlin supports our country on the path to peace and does not recognize the occupation of Ukrainian territories – Donbas and Crimea, because it is a flagrant violation of international law.

According to Andriy Yermak, to accelerate the progress towards peace, it is necessary, first of all, to ensure the implementation of the agreements which have been reached by the leaders of the countries participating in the «Normandy format» during the December summit in Paris, in particular, to provide the full and comprehensive implementation of the ceasefire.

He stressed that OSCE Special Monitoring Mission observers should have full freedom of movement, which had recently been blocked by the illegal armed groups.

The meeting participants also discussed the opportunities for cooperation between Ukraine and NATO expanding and the bilateral cooperation issues.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer emphasised that the normalization of relations with Russia is possible only after Ukraine’s territorial integrity restitution.

The German Defense Minister noted that Germany was ready to continue the assist in the implementation of reforms in Ukraine.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer accepted the invitation of her Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Taran to visit Ukraine.

Natalia Tolub