European Union foreign ministers on Monday delayed for a week the implementation of sanctions against a new group of individuals and companies in Russia and eastern Ukraine, citing momentum behind a new peace initiative, EU officials said.

The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany are scheduled to meet Wednesday in Belarus. If those talks go well, the EU could cancel the expansion of sanctions altogether, which would require the agreement of all 28 EU countries.That is far from certain, but the European ministers wanted to signal they were giving the effort every chance.

EU diplomats said Ukrainian leaders had asked for the sanctions delay. The bloc’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini said the aim is not only to halt the fighting, but also to set the stage for a “sustainable” Russia-Ukraine deal that respects Kiev’s sovereignty across its territory. “I think it would be very difficult to find a cease-fire if we don’t also find agreement at the same time on a set of other issues,” she said. Mogherini said that  the action was taken “to give space for our diplomatic efforts to develop in these hours with a maximum chance of success. We believe it is our duty to give this attempt a chance.”

Yesterday, the European Union Foreign ministers called on Russia to immediatly release Ukrainian woman pilot Nadezhda Savchenko.
The situation remains tense in eastern Ukraine, where separatists army continue the attacks