(VOVworld) – Leaders of Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine met on Wednesday in Minsk, Belarus, to discuss the Ukraine crisis.

Pro-Russian separatists ride on a tank outside the town of Horlivka, eastern Ukraine (Photo: Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

The meeting in Minsk was considered the last chance to reach a peace deal. Many politicians expressed skepticism about the meeting. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said there was little reason to expect success.

Earlier, the Contact Group on Ukraine comprising representatives of Ukraine, pro-Russian rebels, Russia, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OCSE) reached a ceasefire agreement, just hours before the Minsk summit. The parties agreed on a mechanism for monitoring the ceasefire as well as the withdrawal of heavy weapons. They are still discussing the legal status of the Donetsk and Lugansk areas controlled by the separatists and elections in those areas.