14:13 05.01.2015

Diplomatic, military efforts should help bring peace back to eastern Ukraine - Poroshenko

2 min read
Diplomatic, military efforts should help bring peace back to eastern Ukraine - Poroshenko

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko believes that peace will be restored to the country's eastern regions when the Ukrainian border is reliably secured and Kyiv authorities manage to regain control over these territories.

"This goal can be achieved by diplomatic efforts… This is the central topic of today's talks of the group in charge of preparations. This will become the central topic of the "Normandy format" summit involving the leaders of Germany and France if we manage to agree a draft document. This will be the main topic of a "Geneva format" meeting involving the leaders of the European Union and the U.S. if we prove able to prepare it," Poroshenko told reporters in the Zhytomyr region on Monday.

However, Kyiv is also taking advantage of today's truce in south-eastern Ukraine to better equip its army, the president said.

Three Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since December 9, when the latest ceasefire was declared, as compared with more than a dozen a day before the truce, he said.

"Only three Ukrainian servicemen have been killed as a result of shelling since December 9, when a ceasefire was declared, whereas previously we lost 15-20 every day," he said.

"It is up to you to decide whether or not it is a pseudo-truce," Poroshenko.

When asked by reporters about more than 102 unites of modernized military hardware and weapons that were transferred to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the president said that these weapons had been handed over to the most capable units active in the anti-terrorist operation area in eastern Ukraine.

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