Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has held a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during which they discussed the peaceful settlement of the situation in Donbas, in particular the holding of a meeting of the trilateral contact group.

"It was acknowledged that the holding of a meeting of the trilateral contact group in the near future is necessary in order to give a new impetus to the implementation of the Minsk agreements. Poroshenko said that the meeting of the trilateral contact group will be held immediately to address the urgent humanitarian problems of the residents of Donbas, namely the supply of food, medicines, warmth and energy. The U.S. Secretary of State expressed the support for Ukraine's position as regards the expansion of the trilateral contact group through involving representatives of the US and the EU in it," reads a statement posted on the Ukrainian president's website on Friday evening.

"The U.S. secretary of state expressed his support for Ukraine's position on expanding the trilateral contact group by including representatives of the U.S. and EU in it," the report says.

The president also thanked Kerry for his personal efforts in support of Ukraine, particularly during the recent OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Basel, it said.

Poroshenko pointed to the importance of a resolution denouncing the aggression against Ukraine that the U.S. House of Representatives passed on Thursday. "This is a very strong message from our partner," he said.

Kerry congratulated Ukraine on the formation of a new government, which, he said, includes experienced reformers, it said.

Poroshenko said the English-speaking members of the new Ukrainian government oriented toward reforms and world markets are capable of ensuring the implementation of the Ukrainian-EU association agreement.

The parties also discussed relevant issues on the agenda of bilateral relations and energy security, it said.

At the previous round of Ukraine-OSCE-Russia negotiations in Minsk on settling the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Ukraine was represented by former President Leonid Kuchma, the OSCE by Heidi Tagliavini, and Russia by Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov. The self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics were represented by Oleksandr Zakharchenko, Andriy Purhin, Ihor Plotnytsky.