Ukraine announces Normandy Four meeting for 11 September

An advisor-level meeting of the Normandy Four
countries will be held on Friday, Sept. 11, President Volodymyr Zelensky
announced on Sept. 8, reports online media pravda.com.ua. Furthermore, the
venue for the meeting, originally slated for Paris, is being moved to Berlin,
pravda.com.ua reports, citing its own sources and noting that the president
said nothing about the change.

The announcement comes after a telephone call between
foreign ministers Dmytro Kuleba of Ukraine and Sergey Lavrov of Russia, to discuss
the death of a Ukrainian serviceman as the result of a cease-fire violation,
was suddenly canceled and Lavrov flew to Syria.

James Hydzik: The Friday
meeting comes as German attitudes toward Russia are hardening due to the
poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexander Navalny. However, substantial
changes related to Donbas are not expected, which will give the Russian side
room to maneuver on the media front. At most, it will make it easier for
Ukraine to continue the status quo for the short to mid term in the face of
demands for changes in Ukrainian legislation by the Russians.