In a wide-ranging press conference in Paris on Monday, Hollande said he would propose that a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko be held in Paris before the start of this year’s United Nations General Assembly, which opens on September 15. During her visit, Lagarde called on the Ukrainian government to deepen its structural reforms intended to rebuild the country’s ailing economy.

The International Monetary Fund projects that Ukraine’s economy will contract by 9 percent this year, but this actually suggests signs of stabilization, given that it includes a horrendous 17.6 percent contraction in the first quarter.

An initial slice of $5 billion was disbursed immediately after the programme was approved by the International Monetary Fund in March 2015 and another tranche of $1.7 billion was issued in July.

He said the peace process had “moved forward” in the last few weeks and that the cease-fire agreed to in Minsk has “almost been respected”.

“There has been no shooting on the front for a week”, Poroshenko said on Saturday, Agence France-Presse reported. He said that some soldiers continued to be killed by stepping on active landmines.

After a meeting of the Group of 20 Lagarde said, “The Fed has not raised interest rates in such a long time, that it should really do it for good, not give it a try and then have to come back”. “But it is also a realistic program and its effective implementation, after consideration and approval by our executive board, can represent a turning point for Ukraine“.