Prior to his election, unrest had gripped the southern and eastern parts of Ukraine, in the aftermath of the Euromaidan movement and the 2014 Ukrainian revolution.
[4] There were three sessions of the group between 8 and 9 June, during which its participants discussed the peace plan that was proposed by the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.
[6] Russian president Vladimir Putin insisted that negotiations should include representatives of separatists from the Eastern Ukraine and should not perceive it as an "ultimatum", otherwise the ceasefire would fail.
[8] By request of the President, Ukraine was represented by Leonid Kuchma,[9] as Pavlo Klimkin had to be present in Luxembourg.
[11][12] After the meeting, the vehicle with Kuchma and Nestor Shufrych was attacked by angry crowd just outside the administrative building.
According to the interview by Aleksandr Borodai of the Russian newspaper "Novaya Gazeta", Kuchma proposed that pro-Russian militants surrender, at which both Medvedchuk and Shufrych chuckled.