Ukrainian authorities said Russia on Thursday rejected a series of measures proposed by Kyiv to impose a new ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, including prisoner swaps, reopening a checkpoint and expanding a joint communications center.
Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of blocking the peace process in Ukraine's eastern Donbass region, where Ukrainian troops have battled Russian-backed forces in a conflict since 2014.
"Unfortunately, all initiatives of the Ukrainian side were rejected by the Russian Federation under contrived pretexts," said a statement by Ukraine's delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), which also includes Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).