The leaders of Germany, France, Ukraine, and Russia discussed the situation in eastern Ukraine in a phone conversation on July 17, the French presidency said.
In February, the leaders of the four countries agreed on a package of measures, called Minsk II, aimed at ending the fighting in eastern Ukraine.
A statement by the French presidency called for the Minsk agreement to be fully effective by the end of 2015.
"This dynamic needs to be maintained to ensure the Minsk measures are fully effective by the end of this year," the French presidency said in a statement.
On July 16, Ukraine’s lawmakers voted on a draft law that would “regulate peculiarities of local self-government” in the districts which are being held by Russian-backed separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
