Poland might join Donbas peace talk - Ukraine official

Ukrainian foreign ministry official Dmytro Kuleba said on Tuesday that Ukraine would not mind Poland's participation in the Donbas peace talks but that would require the consent of the separatists backed by Russia, the Interfax-Ukraine press agency informed. "We have no doubt about the friendly intentions of Poland. Yet this [Normandy] format has taken shape and it can change after every participating side agrees to that," Kuleba said in a Channel 5 program on Tuesday evening. The diplomat added that it was necessary to assess the far-reaching consequences of a possible change in the format. "Say, we broaden the negotiating format, for instance, by involving Poland, I wonder if the Minsk agreements signed by only four leaders can be valid in this case," Kuleba said. On Monday Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said in Berlin that talks aimed to resolve the situation in the Donbas in the format of the Normandy Group nations (Ukraine, Germany, France and Russia) constitute a basic format and there is no need to create a new one. "As for new formats, I'm confident we don't need new formats. We've got the Minsk format, the Normandy format. I'm sure we're able to resolve all the necessary issues within the framework of these formats," Poroshenko said.