The United States, the European Union, Russia and Ukraine will meet at ministerial level next week to discuss the Ukraine crisis which could lead to possible diplomatic progress in the conflict, according to the Associated Press.
The meeting will involve U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, European foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia, the AP reported.
"(Ashton) continues the diplomatic efforts aiming at de-escalating the situation in Ukraine. In this context she will meet foreign ministers of the U.S., Russian Federation and Ukraine next week," a spokeswoman for Ashton said, according to the AP.
A European diplomat said the EU plans to set up a special support group to help Ukraine stabilize its precarious economy and political situation, the AP reported.
In a phone call on Monday, Kerry and Lavrov had discussed convening direct talks in the next 10 days between Ukraine, Russia, the United States and the European Union to defuse tensions, the U.S. State Department said, according to the AP.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is taking a tough stance before the negotiations set for next week and has instructed the government to be prepared to charge Ukraine in advance for gas supplies, the AP reported. Putin said the change needed to be taken if "additional consultations" with the European Union fail to yield results.
Europe's confirmation of the meeting came soon after Kerry accused Russian agents and special forces of stirring separatist unrest in eastern Ukraine, saying Moscow could be trying to prepare for military action as it had in Crimea, the AP reported.
Kerry and Lavrov held talks in Paris on March 30 about ways to defuse the crisis over Ukraine, with Kerry telling Moscow then that progress depended on a Russian troop pullback from Ukraine's borders, according to the AP.
