GENEVA, April 17 -- A bilateral meeting between foreign affairs chiefs of the United States and the European Union (EU) was held here Thursday morning ahead of four-party talks over the Ukraine crisis.

The high-level talks, which would bring together top diplomats of the EU, Russia, the U.S and Ukraine for the first time since the crisis began, would seek ways to handle the on-going tensions in the Eastern European country.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was expected to join the four-way talks this morning with his counterparts EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Ukrainian Acting Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya, who arrived in Geneva on Wednesday.

This morning's bilateral meeting between Kerry and Ashton was held after the EU foreign policy chief met with Deshchytsya last night after their arrivals.

A preliminary agenda of Thursday's talks showed that a plenary meeting was scheduled to follow a series of bilaterals.