Kerry meets Lavrov

AFP, Geneva :US Secretary of State John Kerry began tough talks in Geneva on Monday with his Russian counterpart to end fighting in Ukraine, where the UN says the death toll has soared beyond 6,000 people in less than a year.The meeting with Sergei Lavrov in an upscale Geneva hotel came less than a week after Kerry accused Moscow of lying to his face about its involvement in the conflict, which has triggered the worst post-Cold War crisis between the US and its allies, and Russia.High-stakes talks between Kiev and Moscow were also set to get under way in Brussels to resolve a bitter gas dispute which threatens deliveries to Europe, after Russia began direct supplies to parts of separatist-held eastern Ukraine.As relative quiet held on Ukraine’s frontlines, raising hopes that Kiev and pro-Kremlin rebels holding parts of the east were moving towards implementing a shaky ceasefire, the United Nations published a report that painted a bleak picture of developments in the country.”More than 6,000 lives have now been lost in less than a year due to the fighting in eastern Ukraine,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said in a statement released with the report-the ninth on the issue.The report details how the conflict is affecting civilians, including arbitrary detention, torture and enforced disappearances, committed mainly by armed groups but also in some cases by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies.The swelling violence and dire living conditions have forced more and more people to flee, and by mid-February, at least one million people had been registered as internally displaced inside Ukraine.”Many have been trapped in conflict zones, forced to shelter in basements, with hardly any drinking water, food, heating, electricity or basic medical supplies,” Zeid said.