Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says that Russia continues to fuel conflict in eastern Ukraine and this prevents holding local elections in militant controlled areas of Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

"Russia continues sending troops, heavy weapons and ammunition into Ukraine a few times a week. Only since January 1, 2016, Russian trains and trucks full of supplies have illegally crossed the uncontrolled part of the Ukrainian-Russian border over 80 times. Russia's proxies in Donbas still heavily impede the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to access all areas under their control and verify the ceasefire and withdrawal of weapons," the president said at the 'Ukraine's Battle for Freedom Continues' forum in Washington on Thursday.

"They do not allow them to access the uncontrolled part of the Ukrainian-Russian border just to check and inform independently the whole world about what is going on in the occupied territory. This situation is not conducive to holding local elections in militant-controlled areas of Donbas which are of key importance for further progress in the settlement," he said.

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