"We have agreed the December 12 date with the Luhansk authorities, but we have not received the response from Kiev yet," an aide to the DPR envoy at Minsk talks told RIA Novosti.
"We insist on this date because only then we are going to be ready to present our proposals on the separation line and other disputable issues," he said.
Last week, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced his decision to introduce a silence regime along the line separating Kiev forces and independence supporters in the southeast of the country starting December 9. Poroshenko also stated that the next Contact Group meeting could be held in Minsk on the same day.
Residents of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine established people's republics that later declared their independence following a February coup in Kiev. The Ukrainian crisis escalated in mid-April, when Kiev launched a military operation against independence supporters in the regions.
The Contact Group on the Ukrainian settlement comprises representatives from Russia, Ukraine, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's republics (DPR, LPR), and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
At the group’s September 5 meeting, the conflicting sides reached a ceasefire agreement. A memorandum specifying the implementation of the ceasefire was reached at another Contact Group meeting on September 19. However, both sides have subsequently accused each other of violating the truce.
