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| - Foreign ministers from Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France will hold video talks next week on the rumbling conflict in eastern Ukraine, the German foreign minister said Wednesday. The so-called "Normandy Format" meeting comes as a follow-up to a summit in Paris in December, where limited progress towards ending a conflict that has left thousands dead since 2014 and is Europe's only active war. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that after talks with his three counterparts, it was clear that "substantial parts" of the decisions made in Paris remain unfulfilled. "We have now agreed, and I am very pleased about this, that there will be a videoconference in the Normandy format at Foreign Minister level and that this videoconference will take place next week," Maas told reporters. He gave no further details about the timing of the meeting. Ukraine last week exchanged prisoners with Russia-backed separatists in the war-torn east of the country ahead of Orthodox Easter celebrations. France and Germany, mediators in Ukraine's peace talks, welcomed the move. Ties between Ukraine and Russia were shredded after the popular 2014 uprising ousted a Kremlin-backed president in Kiev. Russia went on to annex Crimea and support separatists in eastern Ukraine. Since then, more than 13,000 people have been killed in the conflict. pe-pdw/spm
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