According to reports from the Russian RIA Novosti agency, talks were to get underway at 4.30pm CET, although have since been delayed until later on Wednesday evening.
Earlier, Presidents Petro Poroshenko, Francois Hollande and Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived at Minsk airport almost simultaneously, agencies report, with a possible meeting between the three heads of state billed ahead of ceasefire negotiations get underway, a source close to the French president informed.
Minsk-based Belta news agency informed that Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation with Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, who is hosting the talks, before he left for Minsk Wednesday afternoon.
The agency writes that Putin and Lukashenko “discussed topical aspects of the document which is currently being worked out at the level of delegations and will be submitted to the heads of state in the Normandy format”.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (L) is welcomed by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (R) for peace negotiations, in Minsk, Belarus, 11 February 2015. Photo: PAP/EPA/TATYANA ZENKOVICH
While meeting President Lukashenko, Poroshenko said ahead of the meeting that the whole world is waiting for a de-escalation of the crisis in Ukraine, otherwise it would “spiral out of control”.
Ukrainian presidential spokesperson Iryna Herashchenko earlier informed that Poroshenko will be pushing for the original calls outlined in the Minsk Protocol after an initial meeting in September last year: a ceasefire, withdrawal of heavy weaponry, as well as the release of all prisoners of war.
Poroshenko underlined that if no breakthrough would be found and the fighting would not subside, he would impose martial law across the whole country, adding that any motion put forward on the federalisation of Ukraine is ruled out.
A local man walks past damaged buses at a bus station in Donetsk, Ukraine, 11 February 2015. Eastern Ukraine was ravaged by fresh fighting, as leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine geared up for a summit to discuss a new peace plan. Photo: PAP/EPA/ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO
The talks come as heightened unrest in eastern Ukraine saw the shelling of a bus station in Donetsk and almost 20 Ukrainian government soldiers killed in the pro-Russian rebel-controlled area of Debaltseve.
Still, Moscow has expressed cautious optimism on the talks, with a Russian diplomatic source telling the Reuters agency that it was 70 percent likely that an agreement would be reached in the Belarusian capital. (jb)