Zelensky appoints ex-Ukrainian president Kuchma envoy to Contact Group on Donbass settlement

President Vladimir Zelensky has appointed Ukraine’s ex-president, Leonid Kuchma, as a representative to the Contact Group on peaceful settlement in Donbass. “On June 5, a regular meeting of the Contact Group will take place in Minsk, the Ukrainian delegation will be headed by Leonid Kuchma,” Zelensky said at a joint briefing with Kuchma in Kiev.

The president said he had met “with the partners from the US and the EU,” to discuss the ceasefire, TASS reports. “We have a unified stance on the Normandy format and how to unblock the Minsk process,” according to Zelensky.

“We have specific proposals and a new solution for Donbass, however, no one will be trading the territory and sovereignty of Ukraine,” he added.

Kuchma, who quit the post of the Ukrainian representative to the Contact Group in autumn 2018, said that he does not want to play “a decorative role” in its work.