Ukraine's envoy says new peace talks not feasible

Ukraine's envoy at peace talks said on Wednesday that a new meeting of the contact group involving Russia, Ukraine and separatists was not feasible in coming days because rebels had not observed a full ceasefire, Interfax Ukraine said.

"In these conditions when there is one side that is not observing a ceasefire regime I do not consider a meeting viable," former President Leonid Kuchma was quoted as saying.

A fresh round of talks by the group has been expected to be held in the Belarussian capital Minsk this week following a truce between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed
separatists on Tuesday. The Ukrainian military said there had been some shelling by separatists of government positions on Tuesday though in general there had been fewer separatist attacks.