Ukraines President Petro Poroshenko on Saturday said he will meet with Russias 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 Ukraines 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 dont 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.
Poroshenko said he will discuss with Putin the the peace plan and ceasefire, and "the issue of controlling the fulfilment of the agreement," as well the gas dispute with Moscow that threatens to plunge Ukraine into a very cold winter.
"We are very close to regulating the issue of the gas dispute with Russia right now," he said. "I hope that there will be considerable progress" on that.
Putin and Poroshenko last met one-on-one in late August in the Belarussian capital Minsk, after which Kiev announced a truce accord with the pro-Moscow separatists, which has proven largely ineffective.
Newly appointed Donetsk governor Oleksandr Kykhtenko also said the meeting will address the threat of the regions population being cut off from Kievs support ahead of a cold winter.
"There are various issues concerning education, health and social support. We cannot abandon our people and forget that we are responsible," he said, adding that he is ready to negotiate with the rebels if it will prove constructive.
"The president of our country will be meeting the head of Russia and will address these issues," Kykhtenko said at a press-conference on Saturday after Poroshenko sacked his predecessor Sergiy Taruta in the post on Friday.
Source: ANTARA
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