Ex-President Leonid Kuchma has returned to the trilateral contact group on a Donbas settlement as Ukraine's representative, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said at a briefing.
"I met our partners from the USA, France and Germany. We discussed a very important question of ending the war in Donbas. We share a position that [it is necessary] to resume our negotiations in the Normandy format and unblock the Minsk process. The first meeting of the trilateral group headed by Leonid Danylovych Kuchma will be held as soon as on 5 June," Zelenskyy said.
Kuchma stepped down as Ukraine's representative in the group in autumn 2018. He said he could not but accept Zelenskyy's offer.
"I got used to making decisions, delivering and carrying responsibility for them. Today's meeting with the president of Ukraine shows that I have such an opportunity to make my contribution," he said.
Kuchma represented Ukraine at the talks with Minsk from June 2014 to September 2018. He left because he has "reached a critical age".
Ukraine was then represented by Yevhen Marchuk. He resigned in May 2019 after the presidential election in Ukraine.