European Union nations are considering new sanctions against Russia amid cautious optimism that a ceasefire will go into effect Friday in eastern Ukraine, reports GHN based on CNN.
A new round of proposed sanctions has been handed to member states, EU spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said.
"A decision on implementing them will only be taken in light of developments on the ground," she said. "If there is a ceasefire agreed in Minsk today, member states would look how serious it was and decide whether to go forward."
Minsk, the capital of Belarus, is where pro-Russia rebels and Ukrainian and Russian officials will hold ceasefire talks Friday.
A ceasefire deal would be a major step in ending a five-month conflict in eastern Ukraine, where Kiev accuses Moscow of sending troops to aid pro-Russian separatists.
Rebel leaders in Ukraine's self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk republics say they will order a ceasefire Friday if Ukraine signs "a plan for a political settlement" of the raging conflict.
Russia's alleged incursion and the threat its forces could move deeper into Ukraine has caught the attention of the West.
"This is the first time since the end of World War II that one European country has tried to grab another's territory by force," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said. "Europe must not turn away from the rule of law to the rule of the strongest."
Russian President Vladimir Putin has voiced sympathy for the separatists, many of whom are ethnic Russians.
But he denies that Russia sent troops to eastern Ukraine.
In July, U.S. President Barack Obama and the European Union announced sanctions against Russia's state-owned banks, weapons makers and oil companies, along with Putin's top cronies.
The West has accused Putin of arming the pro-Russian separatists fighting the Ukraine government.