Ukraine-Russia Talks Make Little Progress; Poroshenko to Work on Ceasefire Plan

In the wake of rising tension between the two countries, Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko held "complicated" talks Monday in Minsk.

The talks were held to arrive at an agreement to ease tensions in the insurgency-hit areas of Ukraine after almost five months of continuous violence.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the bilateral meeting between Putin and Poroshenko ended early Wednesday and failed to produce a breakthrough.

According to Bloomberg, Belarus' President Aleksandr Lukashenko said that during the summit of the Russian-led Customs Union in Minsk, Belarus, at times both the sides put forth "radically different" positions.

Before the meeting, Poroshenko had said that it made absolute sense that whoever was drawn into the situation wanted to exit with dignity. He had exhibited positive attitude, saying that he was "ready to discuss different options that would allow such an exit strategy -- an exit to a peaceful future for Ukraine, an exit to a peaceful future for Europe."

After the talks, Poroshenko promised that he will work on a "road-map" for an urgent ceasefire with the pro-Russian separatists. This move would seek to defuse the conflict in the east of his former Soviet republic, Reuters reports. "A roadmap will be prepared in order to achieve as soon as possible a ceasefire regime which absolutely must be bilateral in character," Poroshenko said.

Putin, while expressing his support along with an apparent scepticism, said: "Russia will do everything possible for the peace process, if it begins," he told the media and emphasized that it "should get started as soon as possible."

He described this first round of negotiations as positive, but said that Russia did not require to get into the details of the truce as it would be between the Ukraine government and the two rebel eastern regions.

"We didn't substantively discuss that, and we, Russia, can't substantively discuss conditions of a ceasefire, of agreements between Kiev, Donetsk and Luhansk. That's not our business; it's up to Ukraine itself. We can only contribute to create a situation of trust for a possible, and in my view, extremely necessary, negotiation process," he said early on Wednesday.