MOSCOW, August 18 (RIA Novosti) - The five-hour marathon talks between Russian, Ukrainian, German and French foreign ministers on the conflict in eastern Ukraine were difficult, but more rounds will be necessary, Ukraine’s top diplomat Pavlo Klimkin said late on Sunday.
“Five hours of most difficult talks. But we’d need several five-hour [talks] to see any progress,” the Ukrainian foreign chief wrote on Twitter in the wake of the meeting.
Negotiations between Sergei Lavrov of Russia and Pavlo Klimkin of Ukraine, seeking to end fighting in eastern Ukraine, were held Sunday night at the Villa Borsig hotel in Berlin, Germany. They were also attended by German foreign chief Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his counterpart in France, Laurent Fabius.
Steinmeier said earlier the meeting was “about finding a roadmap towards a sustainable ceasefire” in the turbulent region. He added there were no guarantees that the consultations would be a success, but the attempt was worth it.
This is the second four-party meeting of the kind. During the previous talks on July 2, also in Berlin, the four foreign ministers agreed on a declaration that called for a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Ukraine's southeast.
