"The meeting will take place shortly. It will happen in the "Dipservice Hall" complex [in Minsk's downtown]," Dmitry Mironchik said.
Earlier in the day, it was announced that former Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma, Russian ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov and OSCE representative Heidi Tagliavini, as well as representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics Denis Pushilin and Vladislav Dainego, arrived in the Belarusian capital.
Dainego and Pushilin arrived in Minsk Friday, but left shortly, stating that Kiev’s representative at the Minsk talks, former Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma, had failed to arrive. Kuchma said that the meeting would happen on Saturday, adding that the leaders of Donetsk and Luhansk should attend the talks personally.
The warring sides to the Ukrainian conflict managed to reach a ceasefire agreement at the meeting of the Contact Group last September in Minsk. Despite the truce deal, fighting has continued in Ukraine's eastern regions. The confrontation intensified in the first few weeks of 2015, with dozens of civilians killed.
