A fresh round of talks on how to find a lasting solution to five months of brutal fighting in eastern Ukraine began on Friday in the Belarussian capital Minsk.

The so-called Contact Group comprising Ukraine's former president Leonid Kuchma, Russian envoy Mikhail Zurabov, four pro-Moscow separatist leaders and OSCE representatives were seen arriving for the crucial meeting at a Minsk hotel, according to an AFP correspondent present.

Forensic experts have identified a total of 225 victims of downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, with 14 new names released to families, Dutch authorities said on Friday.

"Among the 14 victims, seven were Dutch and seven were of other nationalities," the justice ministry said in a statement, adding that those nationalities would not be released at the behest of their embassies.

NATO will set up regional centers in a handful of Eastern European countries, Lithuania said on Friday as top military commanders met in the Baltic state's capital.

Defense chiefs from the alliance's 28 nations are taking part in a three-day meeting in Vilnius along with NATO top commander General Philip Breedlove amid anxiety in the region over Russia's actions in Ukraine.

Warring parties in Ukraine meet on Friday to try to find a lasting solution to a brutal conflict that has killed around 3,000 people and stoked Western alarm about Russia's territorial ambitions.

The talks take place in Minsk two weeks since a fragile European-brokered ceasefire aimed at halting five months of bloodshed was agreed in the Belarussian capital with Moscow, Kiev and pro-Russian separatist leaders.

Poland will not send arms or otherwise get involved in the bloody conflict in neighboring Ukraine, its prime minister-designate Ewa Kopacz said Friday.

"We shouldn't be an active participant in this armed conflict," Kopacz told reporters, while adding that Poland would adhere to all joint EU initiatives concerning Ukraine.

Russian authorities have ordered Crimean Tatars to leave their assembly building, in a move that the leader of the ethnic minority -- which opposed Russia's annexing of Crimea from Ukraine -- called a return to Soviet oppression.

Bailiffs told the Tatars' governing body, the Mejlis, that its members had until Friday to vacate their building in Simferopol, the regional capital of Russian-annexed Crimea, activists said.

A team of BBC journalists was beaten and their camera smashed in southern Russia, where they were looking into reports of Russian soldiers killed while on secret deployments near Ukraine, the broadcaster said Thursday.

The three reporters were working in the southern city of Astrakhan when they were "assaulted by unidentified men in a coordinated attack," the BBC said in a statement.

Kiev accused Moscow on Thursday of massing its troops in annexed Crimea on the Ukraine border, rattling nerves just as President Petro Poroshenko prepared to meet U.S. counterpart Barack Obama.

The apparent push north by about 4,000 troops in the Black Sea peninsula came despite Russia's declared backing of a peace overture by Kiev to try to end five months of conflict in the rebellious east.

Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko will cast Russia as a global menace Thursday when he meets U.S. President Barack Obama in the hope of winning a "special status" guaranteeing his troubled nation's security.

The pro-Western president's first tour of the White House since his May election comes two days after Ukraine took its first firm step out of Russia's orbit by ratifying a landmark political and economic partnership pact with the 28-nation EU bloc.

Ukraine leaders have played a risky hand granting self-rule to the rebellious east of the country -- a strategy that may halt months of bloodletting but could well open the door to Russia, analysts said Wednesday.

Moscow has hailed the move by Ukrainian lawmakers Tuesday, although some defiant rebel leaders insist they will not be dictated to by a government they reject in Kiev.