“There is a whole range of issues that remain unresolved, but most likely the (German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande) will go [to Minsk]. This is actually the last chance to hold negotiations,” Fabius said on France Inter radio station.
Later on Wednesday, French President Hollande, German Chancellor Merkel, Russian President Putin and Ukrainian President Poroshenko are scheduled to meet in Minsk to agree on a plan to stop the political crisis in Ukraine.
The Contact Group on Ukraine, comprising representatives from Kiev, the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), met in Minsk in September 2014, which resulted in a breakthrough ceasefire agreement between the warring sides.
However, the ceasefire has been violated on a daily basis, with Kiev government and eastern Ukrainian independence supporters trading blame for shellings and civilian casualties. The military confrontation claimed lives of over 5,400 people and left almost 13,000 injured, according to the most recent UN estimates.
