Minsk accords remain basis of Ukrainian peace process - Merkel

It is too soon to say whether the Minsk agreements will lead to resolution of the domestic Ukrainian crisis, but there is no alternative to this process, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

"We have reassured one another that the Minsk Set of Measures is what we have, it is our basis for trying to find a peaceful solution. So far we cannot say exactly that it will be successful but we have nothing else, so we must continue working in this direction," she told a press conference after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Merkel also praised the efforts made by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in the conflict zone

Implementation of the Minsk agreements is a very difficult process, Merkel said.

"We hoped a truce would be reached. Regrettably, that did not happen, there was the fight for Debaltseve. There is no truce today either. Each day we are getting OSCE reports which explain fairly objectively why this truce is not being observed," she said.

"We cannot say that one side observes them 100% and that the other does not observe them at all, but we do have information about multiple truce violations by separatists," Merkel added.

Many problems remain in the implementation of the Minsk agreements, in particular, letting the Ukrainian aid into Donetsk and Luhansk and prisoner exchanges, she said.

"As regards prisoner exchange, this is not over yet. Ukraine claims many of its people are still held captive," the German chancellor said.

"Many other aspects (of the Minsk agreements) are still not being implemented," she said.

"We need to look into the future and think how we could help reach progress," Merkel said.

At the same time, Berlin is hopeful about the completion of the formation of the Contact Group's working subgroups, she said.

"A lot of time passed before the working groups were created. This has now finally been achieved and it is a ray of hope for us," she said.