Russian Federation accuses Ukraine of arresting 2 servicemen from Crimea

Regarding the crisis in east Ukraine, EU leaders at the summit reiterated their support to Ukraine on the implementation of the Minsk agreements.

“Ukraine on right track under President Poroshenko’s leadership”.

Three years after a pro-EU uprising overthrew the Moscow-allied leadership in Kiev, the mood was publicly upbeat at Thursday’s Brussels gathering at which European Council President Donald Tusk spoke Ukrainian and exchanged jokes with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at a joint news conference.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he hoped the meeting would take place next Tuesday, weeks before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is due to take office. Tusk said the conversation was short on details “but at least promising compared to some announcements during the campaign”.

Russian Federation has been hit by an array of the European Union and the U.S. sanctions over what the Westerners call Moscow’s illegal annexation of Crimea and its interference in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

The group plans to issue a joint statement on Friday and will meet again on the sidelines of a December 8-9 ministerial level OSCE meeting in Hamburg that will be hosted by Germany, which now holds the rotating presidency of the OSCE.

Ukrainian officials, although privately concerned about possible changes in US policy toward their country following Trump’s ascendance, have maintained an iron wall of optimism in public.

The 28 member states backed the plan earlier this month but final approval by the European Parliament has been held up by disagreements over an emergency suspension clause.

The election of Donald Trump – who has vowed to normalise ties with Russian Federation – has raised trepidation in Kiev that Washington may change course on the conflict, though Poroshenko insisted Tuesday that he was confident of continuing USA support.

The EU has been mediating the gas supply talks between Moscow and Kyiv. Brussels says Ukraine’s exports to the European Union rose 5.2 percent since an agreement on closer political and trade relations entered force at the start of this year.

The EU is set at its next summit in December to discuss a six-month renewal of wide-ranging economic sanctions against Russian Federation that were imposed after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine in 2014.