Kyiv Ready for Substantive Talks in Minsk, Aims for Specific Results
KYIV, January 31 (Sputnik) – Kyiv is ready for substantive talks during the Contact Group meeting in Minsk and aims for specific results, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said Saturday.
“Ukraine is ready for consultations, ready for a substantive dialogue, and is determined that this round of talks will bring concrete results: a ceasefire, pullback of heavy weaponry, the completion of prisoner exchange,” Yevhen Perebiynis said in an interview with the 112 Ukraine television Channel
The Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine comprises representatives from Kyiv, Moscow, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics in eastern Ukraine.
A Contact Group meeting scheduled for Friday, aimed to put an end to renewed fighting in the conflict-torn Donbas region, was delayed after a series of disagreements between the participants. The group then decided to hold a meeting in the Belarusian capital on Saturday.
Despite a ceasefire agreement signed during a Contact Group meeting in Minsk in September, fighting has continued in eastern Ukraine, with both Kyiv and local militia accusing each other of breaking the truce.
Tensions have been on the rise in Donbas in January as several shelling attacks have killed dozens of civilians, including in the southeastern city of Mariupol, which is located outside of the main conflict zone.