BERLIN – German Foreign Affairs Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has said “significant progress” had been made toward a resolution of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Speaking after a three-and-a-half-hour meeting with his French, Russian and Ukrainian counterparts in Berlin on September 12, Mr. Steinmeier said the talks had been “less confrontational” than previous ones and that the ministers “made headway in some critical things.”
Mr. Steinmeier said the warring sides were now “very close” to an agreement on withdrawing weapons from the frontline between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatists.
Ukrainian and rebel forces have blamed each other for repeated breaches of a ceasefire agreement reached in Minsk in February, but both sides are now broadly respecting a renewed truce that came into effect on September 1.
Mr. Steinmeier said all parties reaffirmed that the truce “now needs to be further consolidated and secured.”
Germany’s top diplomat also said there was some progress on the legal groundwork toward holding local elections in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine scheduled its vote on October 25, while self-proclaimed leaders of the rebel-controlled Luhansk and Donetsk regions said they would hold their own elections on October 18 and November 1, respectively, drawing protests from Kyiv.
Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov said differences remained on the issue, but “the general impression is that these differences can be overcome.”
The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France, and Germany are due to meet in Paris on October 2 to discuss efforts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.
With reporting by Deutsche Presse-Agentur, the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.