KIEV, Ukraine--Scant progress was made at the first high-level
talks in months between Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels in the
Belarus capital of Minsk, although both sides said that after hours
of talks they did agree to exchange some prisoners.
The combatants said they hope to meet again in Minsk in the
coming days to discuss broader measures to end fighting in eastern
Ukraine that has killed at least 4,700 this year--more than 1,300
of them since a putative cease-fire in September, according to a
United Nations report.
The crucial goals of the talks have been to cement a lasting
cease-fire by agreeing on a withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the
fighting zone and a demarcation line between rebels and government
troops.
On Thursday, officials declined to say what, if any, progress
was made on those points in the late-night talks on Wednesday. "The
meeting took a fairly long time and the atmosphere was tense," said
Denis Pushilin, an envoy to the talks from the rebels"
self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic. "It was a preparatory
meeting and only after the next meeting we would be able to talk
about the results."
Ukraine military spokesman Col. Andriy Lysenko said negotiations
are ongoing and that "they're not being made public because there
are no specific results just yet."
Ukrainian State Security Service said that a swap of prisoners
may commence in a matter of days, although a spokeswoman for the
agency said "we hope that the deal won't fall apart." The two sides
will exchange several hundred prisoners, said Alexander
Zakharchenko, the leader of the Donetsk People's Republic,
according to a report from the Russian news agency Interfax.
While a swap does mark some progress, officials said both sides
would still be holding hundreds more prisoners, and a spokeswoman
for the Ukraine Security Service repeated that it favored an
"all-for-all" exchange.
The two sides said they had not agreed on a date for the next
meeting, but hoped it would be soon. Though the truce announced in
September has largely been a failure, an agreed-upon "day of
silence" on Dec. 9 helped to reduce fighting, even though Kiev
reported sporadic artillery fire.
The daily toll of casualties has trickled off recently, Mr.
Lysenko said at a briefing Thursday, with just one Ukrainian
serviceman wounded in the last 24 hours.
Meanwhile, friction persists between Kiev and Moscow over the
Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia in March. The peninsula, which
relies on electricity from Ukraine, suffered a blackout for several
hours Wednesday, after Ukraine shut down power from the
mainland.
Ukraine's energy minister said Ukraine's electricity grid has
suffered a deficit in recent weeks, and halted supplies to Crimea
because it was using more than agreed upon. Power delivery was back
to normal in a few hours, he said.
Crimean authorities plan to charge Ukraine for the losses caused
by the "surprise blackout," according to a report from Russia's
Interfax news service.
Nonna Fomenko in Moscow contributed to this article.
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