You're reading: Austria hopes hostages in Slovyansk will be released without any conditions

Austria hopes for the speedy release of the hostages in Sloviansk (Donetsk region) without any conditions, Federal Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz has said.

“It is important to implement the Geneva agreements, and we
appreciate the steps that have been made by the Ukrainian government,”
he said at a press briefing after talks with Acting Ukrainian Foreign
Minister Andriy Deschytsia in Kyiv on Wednesday.

He said Austria hopes that the Russian side would also take the
respective steps to de-escalate the situation and expects the speedy
release of the hostages.

“We expect that the hostages will be released without any additional conditions,” Kurz said.