Xinhua News Agency, Moscow, December 31 (Reporter Luan Hai) Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Zelensky exchanged greetings on December 31, and gave positive comments on the exchange of detainees in eastern Ukraine and the natural gas transit agreement reached by Russian and Ukrainian enterprises.
The Russian President’s website released a message saying that during the call, "Russian and Ukrainian presidents congratulated each other on the New Year and expressed their support for Russia and Ukraine to develop bilateral relations in 2020." The two sides positively evaluated the exchange of detainees between the Ukrainian government and civilian armed forces in eastern Ukraine on the 29th, believing that this move would help enhance mutual trust. Putin stressed that it is very important for Russia and Ukraine to "reach an agreement on the transit of Russian natural gas through Ukraine and uninterrupted transportation to Europe".
According to the Ukrainian News Agency, the leaders of the two countries also agreed to promote the approval of a new batch of Russian-Ukrainian detainees exchange list as soon as possible, and hoped that the military contact zone in eastern Ukraine could achieve a complete ceasefire as soon as possible.
In April 2014, a large-scale conflict broke out between Ukrainian government forces and civilian armed forces in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine (including Donetsk and Luhansk States). Through the mediation of the international community, the two parties to the conflict reached a ceasefire agreement in Minsk in September 2014 and February 2015 respectively to determine the ceasefire line. In February 2015, the leaders of France, Russia, Germany and Ukraine adopted a package of measures to implement the Minsk ceasefire agreement. Since then, the large-scale conflict in Wudong has been controlled, but small-scale crossfire has occurred from time to time.
On December 9, 2019, the "Normandy Model" four-nation summit aimed at solving the conflict in eastern Ukraine was held in Paris, France. The leaders of France, Russia, Germany and Ukraine attended the meeting and stressed that the Minsk ceasefire agreement should be fully implemented. During the summit, Zelensky and Putin met, and the two sides discussed the new round of troop withdrawal and the exchange of detainees in Wudong. (Participating in reporter: Li Dongxu)