Normandy format to meet in Berlin over Ukraine crisis: German FM

KIEV, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Foreign ministers from the Normandy format group's countries -- France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine -- will meet to discuss the Ukraine crisis on June 11 in Berlin, visiting German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Friday.

"Today and in the recent weeks, I had discussions with the foreign ministers of France, Russia and Ukraine. And I am very glad that we have managed to agree on a meeting," Maas told reporters during the press conference in Ukraine's eastern city of Mariupol.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin also said at the press conference that the release of hostages and the possible deployment of the United Nations' peacekeeping troops in Ukraine's eastern region of Donbas will be the key topics of the meeting.

The Normandy format, also known as the Normandy contact group, is a four-party diplomatic group set up to resolve the conflict in Donbas that erupted in April 2014.

The group was formed on June 6, 2014, when leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine met on the sidelines of the 70th anniversary of the D-Day allied landings in Normandy.

The last meeting of the Normandy format ministers took place in February 2017.

Maas arrived in Ukraine on Thursday for a two-day working visit. Enditem