KIEV, July 1 (RIA Novosti) – The next trilateral meeting on settling the crisis in eastern Ukraine may take place in Minsk, Belarus, Ukraine’s envoy in the contact group said Tuesday.
“It’s possible that the next meeting of the contact group may be held not in eastern Ukraine, but in another capital, perhaps in Minsk,” the Ukrainian presidential envoy for peaceful settlement of the conflict in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, Iryna Herashenko, said.
The previous meetings were held in Donetsk, the capital of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic.
“This option is being discussed in order to once again create the conditions for work results of this contact group, in which ex-president Leonid Kuchma is representing Ukraine,” the envoy said.
Herashenko did not give a date for the next round of trilateral talks that include the European Union, Ukraine and Russia.
The presidential envoy said Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has made the decision to renew the active phase of special operations in eastern Ukraine against local defense forces, which she said was supported by the public.
The renewal of the special operation in the east came just hours after Poroshenko announced the end to a ceasefire between independence supporters and pro-Kiev forces in the east and decided against further extension of the truce.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande, Ukrainian President Poroshenko and German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a four-party phone conversation spoke in favor of the third round of consultations between representatives from Kiev and the country’s southeastern regions.
Kiev and the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics have already held two rounds of consultations on resolving the crisis in east Ukraine.
The meetings were also attended by Russian ambassador Mikhail Zurabov, former President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma, envoys from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, “Ukrainian Choice” movement leader Viktor Medvedchuk and Donetsk People’s Republic leader Alexander Boroday.
