Is the fate of Ukraine decided?

At 11:34 it was reported that President of Ukraine Poroshenko left the room where the negotiations of the 'Normandy Quartet' with the participation of the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairman are being held. "We'll see," he said, answering journalists' questions about the chances of signing an armistice agreement.

 

The talks on the settlement of the situation in south-eastern Ukraine, which took place in Minsk in the so-called 'Normandy format' with the participation of the heads of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France, have lasted for more than 14 hours.

 

The leaders have left the negotiating hall, first Petro Poroshenko, then Vladimir Putin, who was followed by Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. At the same time, media reported, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has returned to the hall, where German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande remain after the Ukrainian reconciliation talks in Minsk. 

 

According to reports, during the negotiations a truce plan was agreed, which involves a ceasefire from February 14, the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line and the creation of a security zone.

 

Petro Poroshenko made the first statement after the meeting, "there is no good news yet", because "there are conditions that I consider unacceptable." Nevertheless, "there's always hope," the president of Ukraine said. At around 10:30 Putin, Hollande and Merkel resumed talks behind closed doors without Poroshenko, Tass reports. At the same time, the Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Pavlo Klimkin, said that the 'Normandy Quartet' will continue to work. "We have been working non-stop in all the possible formats," RIA Novosti cited him as saying. After 15 minutes, Putin left Hollande and Merkel, who returned to the main hall of negotiations, where they were joined by Petro Poroshenko and the chairman of the OSCE Special Representative, Heidi Tagliavini, who had left before the meeting of the Contact Group in the Diplimatic Service Hall. Putin joined the negotiations again 15 minutes later. According to media sources, the negotiations may continue for several more hours.Probably the reason for the prolongation is the information that the leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, Alexander Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitsky, refuse to sign the document prepared at the Normandy format talks. They demand the retreat of the Ukrainian army from Debaltsevo.

Petro Poroshenko made the first statement after the meeting, "there is no good news yet", because "there are conditions that I consider unacceptable." Nevertheless, "there's always hope," the president of Ukraine said. 

 

At around 10:30 Putin, Hollande and Merkel resumed talks behind closed doors without Poroshenko, Tass reports. At the same time, the Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Pavlo Klimkin, said that the 'Normandy Quartet' will continue to work. "We have been working non-stop in all the possible formats," RIA Novosti cited him as saying. 

 

After 15 minutes, Putin left Hollande and Merkel, who returned to the main hall of negotiations, where they were joined by Petro Poroshenko and the chairman of the OSCE Special Representative, Heidi Tagliavini, who had left before the meeting of the Contact Group in the Diplimatic Service Hall. Putin joined the negotiations again 15 minutes later.

 

According to media sources, the negotiations may continue for several more hours.Probably the reason for the prolongation is the information that the leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, Alexander Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitsky, refuse to sign the document prepared at the Normandy format talks. They demand the retreat of the Ukrainian army from Debaltsevo.

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the end of the just-concluded final negotiations that two documents have been aligned. The first of them is 'A package of measures for the implementation of the Minsk agreements', signed by the Contact Group, the second document is a non-binding one - a joint statement by Putin, Poroshenko, Hollande and Merkel about support for the peace settlement process in Ukraine. The key outcome of the meeting is that the participants have agreed to a ceasefire from midnight on February 15.