KHARKIV: Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko yesterday said that he will meet with Russia’s Vladimir Putin next week as Kiev reported rebel attacks have subsided, signalling the possibility of rescuing a truce in the six-month conflict.
Pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian military in the eastern Donetsk region said they have agreed to a no-shooting period, and the army announced “progress” in negotiations and readiness to pull back forces.
Kiev has accused Moscow of fuelling the insurgency in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Lugansk regions, including by sending regular contingents across the border which the government no longer controls.
Putin and Poroshenko will meet on Friday, for the first time since August, while attending the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit in Milan, Poroshenko said on a visit to Kharkiv.
“I don’t expect that these will be easy negotiations,” he said, adding that the talks will also include the prime ministers of Italy and Britain as well as German Chancellor Angela Merkel. AFP
