Paris summit of 9 December 2019 brought Putin and Zelensky together
A look back at the Normandy Format meeting that produced an agreement on a Donbass ceasefire by the end of 2019.
What did the Paris talks of 9 December 2019 actually achieve? On that day, Volodymyr Zelensky, Vladimir Putin, Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel met in the French capital for peace talks on Ukraine. It was the first time Putin and Zelensky had met, and the first four-way leaders' meeting of this kind since 2016.
The format was the Normandy Format, also known as the Normandy contact group or Normandy Four. Its members were Germany, Russia, Ukraine and France, who first met informally in 2014 during the 70th anniversary of D-Day celebrations in Normandy. The group had a substantial role in mediating the Minsk agreements between 2014 and 2015.
A ceasefire pledge
As reported at the time, the talks ended with a breakthrough. Russia and Ukraine agreed to implement a ceasefire in the Donbass by the end of 2019. The commitment gave the meeting its main concrete outcome.
What came later
The Normandy Format continued to operate until 2022. Further meetings in 2022 failed to de-escalate rising tensions before Russia's invasion of Ukraine. That outcome lay well beyond the Paris meeting of 9 December 2019, which was notable for bringing the two presidents face to face and for the ceasefire pledge that came out of it.
