Ukraine Says Possible Peace Talks in Minsk on Sunday
New internationally mediated peace talks between Ukraine, Russian-backed rebels and Russia itself could start Sunday in Minsk, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Wednesday.
"We agreed for the contact group to hold a video conference on Thursday and Friday," he said, referring to representatives from Kiev, Moscow, the rebels controlling parts of eastern Ukraine, and the OSCE European security body.
"I hope this group will be able to meet on Sunday in Minsk," he told reporters after talks with Polish counterpart Bronislaw Komorowski in Warsaw.
The Kremlin said that Russian President Vladimir Putin, Poroshenko and their French and German counterparts agreed in a conference call that talks should resume "as soon as possible."
Negotiators plan to discuss "carrying out the Minsk pact," the Kremlin said, referring to a broad peace plan agreed last September in the Belarussian capital, but never implemented.
Poroshenko, meanwhile, said that peace could be achieved "in three weeks" if Russia pulled troops out of Ukraine and closed its border.
That demand went to the heart of Ukrainian complaints that Russia is fueling the war by arming and fighting alongside local pro-Moscow rebels. However, the Kremlin insists, despite repeated sightings of what appear to be Russian troops in Ukraine, that it is not involved in the war.
The flurry of diplomacy followed White House confirmation that President Barack Obama will sign into law fresh sanctions against Russia. Existing U.S. and EU sanctions imposed over Moscow's role in the Ukraine conflict have already caused heavy damage to the shaky Russian economy.
At least 4,634 people have been killed and 10,243 wounded in the eight-month-old conflict between government forces and pro-Russian separatists, according to latest U.N. figures. Another 1.1 million people have had to leave their homes.
Source: Agence France Presse
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