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Geneva. — The US and Russian foreign ministers expressed cautious optimism after holding talks in Geneva yesterday to end fighting in Ukraine, where the UN says more than 6 000 people have died in less than a year.
The meeting between John Kerry and Sergei Lavrov in Geneva was just one of several attempts at mediation on the conflict yesterday, as high-stakes talks to resolve a bitter gas dispute between Kiev and Moscow took place in Brussels.
Speaking separately after their 80-minute meeting, Kerry and Lavrov both cautiously said a February 15 ceasefire was on the right track, despite repeated breaches of the peace deal that have left hundreds dead.
The Russian foreign minister welcomed “tangible progress” in the implementation of the agreement reached in Minsk last month, saying “the ceasefire is being consolidated, heavy weapons are withdrawn.” Kerry, meanwhile, said he was “very hopeful” that his talks with Lavrov would help bring about the change needed to end fighting.
“Our hope is that within the next hours, and certainly not more than days, this (ceasefire) will be fully implemented,” he said.
Underlining this momentum, the Russian, Ukrainian, French and German leaders agreed to hold four-way telephone talks on the crisis yesterday evening, the Interfax news agency quoted a Kremlin advisor as saying.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Ukraine of perpetrating a kind of “genocide” by denying energy to four million people living in territories hit by a humanitarian crisis. — AFP.
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