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Ukraine's President: Peace Talks Could Resume Dec. 21

by VOA News December 17, 2014

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko says his government could resume peace talks with Russian-backed separatists and Russia's government Sunday in Minsk.

Poroshenko told reporters in Warsaw members of the so-called 'contact group,' made up of representatives of the Ukrainian and Russian governments, the separatists in eastern Ukraine, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), would hold a video conference Thursday and Friday in preparation for a possible meeting.

In early September, the contact group members signed a cease-fire in Minsk, but more than 1,300 people have died in fighting in eastern Ukraine since then, with each side accusing the other of violating the truce.

The leader of the separatists' self-declared Donetsk People's Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko, told Russia RIA Novosti news agency the contact group meeting agenda had not been 'fully agreed.'

Meanwhile, during a visit to Kyiv, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said she and President Poroshenko 'shared the impression that there might be ... some more willingness to solve the conflict on the Russian side, on President Putin's side.'

Mogherini's comments echoed those of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who said Tuesday that Russia has made 'constructive moves" on the Ukraine crisis that could open the way to resolving the conflict and easing or lifting international economic sanctions.

The White House announced Tuesday that President Barack Obama would sign legislation passed by the U.S. Congress authorizing more sanctions on Russia for its role in the Ukraine crisis.

The bill also gives the president authority to provide $350 million in lethal and non-lethal military aid to the Ukrainian government. More than 4,700 people have been killed since the conflict began in April.

That potential aid includes anti-tank weapons, munitions and surveillance drones. It also requires the president to impose new sanctions on Russia's defense and energy sectors, if Russian firms sell or transfer military equipment to Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova or Syria.

But the legislation does not make the sanctions or military aid mandatory.

Some information for this report came from AFP and Reuters.