Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has said that he received a promise to extend the sanctions against Russia from the leadership of the European Union during the mini-summit in Brussels.

"We have received a firm affirmation that, today and tomorrow, during the meeting of the European Council, we will receive the decision on the six-month extension of the sanctions against the aggressor, the Russian Federation, for its total failure to implement provisions of the Minsk agreements," Poroshenko said in a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels on Thursday.