KIEV, August 11 (RIA Novosti) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Monday he is ready to discuss the ongoing hostilities in eastern Ukraine with Russia, the United States and the European Union.
“Petro Poroshenko said he was ready for multi-party international discussions on settling the situation in Donbass in the … Geneva format. The head of the state expressed his support for putting the ‘Ukrainian issue’ on the agenda of the European Council’s next meeting due August 30,” the presidential press service said in a statement.
Earlier Sunday, the leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) said talks on a ceasefire in the region were pointless, as Ukrainian authorities are incapable of negotiating, adding that independence supporters were still ready to continue consultations with the participation of the OSCE even though previous efforts yielded no results.
Last week, Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev told RIA Novosti Moscow is ready to mediate negotiations between the Kiev government and independence supporters in southeastern Ukraine.
Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France previously held four-party talks in Berlin on July 2, in which they agreed on a range of measures to persuade Kiev to immediately agree to a ceasefire, but the fighting is still ongoing.
