A preliminary round of negotiations between Moscow, Kiev, eastern Ukrainian rebels, and international observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) began after a logistical delay on Wednesday. Final results of the summit are expected after the second round wraps up on Friday.

In the run-up to the negotiations, the sides contemplated a sizable prisoner exchange, after the success of several exchanges involving dozens of captives. Ukrainian authorities say that militants are currently holding 600 regular army troops under lock and key, while Kiev has captured more than 400 rebels. The government has said that it is ready to release more than 230 prisoners of war.

The rebel-held area of Donbass, which has an estimated remaining population of over three million, continues to suffer from shortages of food, medication, and other necessities. Last month, the government cut off services and salaries for people living in the region – whose legitimacy it does not recognize – saying that such payments and services were simply helping to sustain militants. This has forced the already struggling region to depend on aid convoys and supplies from Russia.

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There is little hope of the sides agreeing on the status of eastern Ukraine during the talks, meaning that they are unlikely to halt the build-up of military capacity in eastern Ukraine.

Aleksandr Zakharchenko, leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, earlier stated that he expects little to come of the talks, apart from a prisoner exchange.

“Ukraine has still not moved its forces from near our positions, despite earlier agreements. This means the country is still weak,” he said in an interview with Russia’s Argumenty i Fakty newspaper.

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The likelihood of such a compromise has also been scuppered by the Ukrainian parliament.

On the eve of the talks, the Rada overwhelmingly voted to revoke its “nonaligned” status that allowed it to maintain military cooperation with both Russia and the West, paving its way for even closer ties with NATO, and its eventual full membership.

In response, a senior official from the Russian Foreign Ministry said that if Ukraine becomes part of the bloc, “we will absolutely have all ties with NATO severed, and such a rift would be virtually impossible to mend.”

More than 4,700 people have died in the Ukrainian conflict since secessionists seized key government buildings in the east of the country, according to last week’s UN report.

The UN says that more than one million have fled the region; about half have claimed refugee status in Russia, while the rest have moved to parts of Ukraine untouched by war.