Deadly fighting in eastern Ukraine must end “this week”, Ukraine’s new President Petro Poroshenko has pledged.
He was speaking at talks involving an envoy from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and Russia’s ambassador to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, fighting has continued in and around the rebel-held city of Sloviansk.
Kiev and the West accuse Russia of supporting separatists in the east — a claim denied by Moscow.
In a separate development, officials from Ukraine, Russia and the European Union are due to meet in Brussels to discuss Kiev’s huge gas debt to Moscow.
Russia has threatened to cut its gas supplies to Ukraine, if no solution is found. This potentially could disrupt supplies to the EU, as about 15% of Europe’s gas from Russia transits through Ukraine, BBC informs.
