GENEVA: The Foreign Ministers of the United States, Russia, Ukraine and European Union are meeting in the Swiss city of Geneva on Thursday to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Ukraine.
The US Secretary of State John Kerry, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya and the EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton are taking part in Thursday’s talks.
The Ukrainian foreign minister said that Kiev will demand Russia cease its support for what he called “terrorist activities” in Ukraine.
“Our main demand is to deescalate the situation in eastern Ukraine,” Deshchytsya added.
Meanwhile, at least three persons were killed and 13 others injured by gunfire in a confrontation between anti-government protesters and soldiers stationed at a military base in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, the country’s’ Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said.
Tensions escalated between the Western powers and Russia after the Crimean territory declared independence from Ukraine and formally applied to become part of the Russian Federation. A referendum was held in Crimea on March 16, in which almost 97 percent of the participants voted to rejoin Russia.
Following the Russian annexation of Crimea, unrest spread to Donetsk region, another mainly Russian-speaking area in eastern Ukraine.
