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Spain's foreign affairs minister warned on Monday against plans to supply Ukraine with weapons, saying this would fuel conflict in the country’s embattled east and calling for effective control of a ceasefire, TASS reported.

Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo was addressing European Union foreign ministers ahead of a visit to Kiev for talks in the capital with Ukraine's leadership. Dialogue between the warring sides was "the only possibility to avoid economic or even military confrontation," he said.

Talks scheduled for Minsk, capital of Belarus, on Wednesday were the last opportunity to reach agreements and avoid new sanctions directed at Russia and threatening everybody involved, he added.

Minsk hosts talks of the Contact Group gathering Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), ahead of the planned meeting there of leaders known as the Normandy format — Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France — on Wednesday.