On Thursday, Secretary of State John Kerry called on Russia to "help calm turbulent waters" in eastern Ukraine, and said that doing so could allow for relations with the West to be rebuilt, reported The Associated Press.
The comments were made in Basel, Switzerland during a meeting at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Speaking shortly before meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov, Kerry bluntly acknowledged that hundreds of Russian soldiers had fought and died in Ukraine. Russia has so far denied that it has sent military into Ukraine, and Lavrov would not comment on Kerry's allegations about Russian casualties.
U.S. officials believe some 400 Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine this year.
"Regrettably, Russia continues to supply new weapons and increase support for armed separatists," Kerry said, The New York Times reported. "In doing so, it fails to meet its international and O.S.C.E. obligations and to live up to an agreement that it actually negotiated and signed."
"The result is damage to its credibility, and its own citizens wind up paying a steep economic and human price, including the price of hundreds of Russian soldiers who fight and die in a country where they had and have no right to be."
Kerry and Lavrov then met in a private half-hour meeting where they spoke about the situation in Ukraine. Kerry urged Lavrov to "return to serious discussions" in Moscow regarding a cease-fire, according to a senior State Department official, reported AP.
OSCE has acted as an intermediary in the eastern Ukraine crisis, working towards a cease-fire deal. Russia is believed to be providing weapons and other support to the separatist rebels in their attempt to secede from Ukrainian government.
In addition to meeting with the Russian foreign minister, Kerry also met briefly with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin and Georgian Foreign Minister Tamar Beruchashvili.
