The aim of the meeting was to acquaint the new German government with the situation, Russian representative Dmitry Kozak told Interfax.

All three parties had reaffirmed their commitment to the peace plan hammered out in Minsk in 2014, Kozak said. Further meetings with Ukrainian participation are planned.

As deputy head of the president’s office, Kozak has been tasked with preparing summits of the four countries participating in the so-called Normandy Format of talks that include Germany and France as mediators as well as the conflicting parties, Russia and Ukraine.

The last meeting in this format, which began in 2014, was held in Paris in 2019.

The parties are seeking to resolve the almost eight-year conflict between Moscow and Kiev, which erupted after Russia seized the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in early 2014.

Nevertheless, the Minsk Protocol remains on ice, with Russia and Ukraine accusing each other of failing to fulfil their commitments under the deal.

According to UN estimates, more than 13,000 people have died in fighting between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian armed forces in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. The United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Russia on account of its role in the conflict.

Also on Thursday, Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu spoke by phone with his US counterpart Lloyd Austin about Russia’s massing of troops near its border with Ukraine, a move that the US sees as indicative of Russia’s plan to invade.