"Putin and Zelensky have started talking to each other. However, they are far from reaching an agreement on a whole range of issues, they are using different terms," Peskov said and adding that: "I think their one-on-one conversation lasted 10-15 minutes, so this is not that brief, later, they were interrupted by President of France  Macron who insisted on continuing the work in the Normandy format"

The Normandy Format talks involve the representatives of the Normandy Four countries (Germany, Russia, Ukraine, France) who aim to resolve the war in Donbass. It has been also known as the Normandy contact group.

The group was formed on June 6, 2014, when leaders from France, Germany, Russia, and Ukraine met on the margins of the 70th anniversary of the D-Day allied landings in Normandy. It operates mainly through telephone calls between the leaders and their respective ministers of foreign affairs. The Normandy Format has sometimes been expanded to include Belarus, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Negotiations and talks were stalled from 2016 until autumn 2019.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in his May 2019 inaugural address made peace talks with Russia his top priority

On 18 July, a "comprehensive" cease-fire was agreed with arbitration by the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine.

At the December 2019 talks, all parties agreed to meet in the Normandy Format again in March 2020 in Germany, but few additional details were agreed upon. (ILKHA)