Poroshenko, Merkel discuss organization of trilateral contact group meeting

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has held telephone consultations with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the presidential press service has reported.

"The sides discussed ways to organize a meeting of the trilateral contact group, in particular, through a video conference, and expressed confidence that this event would be organized tomorrow [on July 15]," the press service reported late on Monday.

The press service also noted that "the chancellor emphasized the misinterpretation of a statement made by a federal government representative on the holding of direct talks with separatists and expressed commitment to the idea of holding consultations of the trilateral contact group."

"The sides discussed the issues of involving the OSCE mission in monitoring and verifying the border. The issue concerns the deployment of OSCE inspectors on the Ukrainian-Russian border, including at the Donetsk and Gukovo checkpoints in Russia, as well as the possibility of using unmanned aerial vehicles for monitoring and verification," reads the statement.

Poroshenko and Merkel also discussed preparations for the consideration of Ukrainian problems at a European Council meeting in Brussels on July 16.