Ukrainian President meets French, German leaders

Kiev, Dec 16 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron and the new German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz during the sixth Eastern Partnership Summit in Brussels, the Ukrainian presidential press service said.

In the talks with Macron on Wednesday, Zelensky voiced his hope that France will pay special attention to Ukraine's security issues during its six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Ukrainian and French Presidents also discussed Ukraine's European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations, as well as topical issues of Ukrainian-French cooperation, including the implementation of intergovernmental agreements on joint economic projects.

Later in the day, Zelensky met with Scholz to talk about bilateral relations and energy partnership between Ukraine and Germany.

Zelensky invited Scholz to pay a visit to Ukraine.

Ukraine, France and Germany are members of the Normandy format that also includes Russia. The four-party diplomatic group was set up to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine that has killed over 14,000 people since April 2014.

Zelensky arrived in Brussels for a working visit earlier in the day to take part in the Eastern Partnership Summit on December 15-16. On Thursday, the Ukrainian leader is set to meet with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

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