“Unfortunately there isn’t any good news. So far no news, but there is hope,” Poroshenko said, citing several “unacceptable conditions” set forth from the Russian side.
Ukrainian reconciliation talks in Minsk of the `Normandy four` will continue, as well as other negotiation formats to end the crisis in the country, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin told RIA Novosti on Thursday.
“We will continue to work, we have been working non-stop in all the possible formats,” Klimkin said, responding to a question of whether the Normandy meeting had ended.
Reconciliation talks over Ukraine have ended in the Belarusian capital of Minsk and a document accepted by the leaders of Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine will attempt to reach a ceasefire agreement starting from February 14, Reuters reported Thursday.
The document also proposes to pull back heavy artillery and create a security zone, the agency said.
The OSCE delegation left Contact Group meeting venue where talks continue on Ukraine crisis settlement.
It is unclear if this document is the finalized edition of the agreement that Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, French President Francois Hollande, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel signed.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has returned to the hall of the Independence Palace in Minsk where German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande remain after Ukrainian reconciliation talks in Minsk, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported Thursday.
Poroshenko entered the hall, then left it and began speaking with someone over the telephone near the doors.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has already left the palace. Merkel and Hollande remained in the negotiations room.
Earlier it was reported that Hollande and Merkel plan to hold a brief bilateral meeting to express their opinions after the meeting.
Russian Presidential Aide Vladislav Surkov and the leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics, Alexander Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitsky, arrived in Minsk on Thursday for Contact Group talks, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported.
The leaders of Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine have handed over a reconciliation agreement to the Contact Group to review, a source in Minsk said.
"The document has been passed to the Contact Group for review and signatures," the source told RIA Novosti.
Participants of the Normandy format meeting — Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel – have been in talks for more than 13 hours in the Belarusian capital Minsk to hammer out a deal on the Ukrainian crisis.
Members of the Contact Group, comprising envoys from Kiev, Moscow, the Luhansk and Donetsk people’s republics, as well as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) have also been holding talks in Minsk since Tuesday.
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