The talks held by Batkivschyna Party deputy Nadia Savchenko with the leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk Republics (DPR and LPR), Alexander Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitsky, will benefit neither her, nor Ukraine, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said.

"I feel very sorry, given the ordeal this person went through, and I think such steps are benefiting neither her, nor our country," Poroshenko said during his trip to the Ivano-Frankivsk region on Wednesday, when asked by journalists about those talks.

"The actions of people's deputies are the responsibility of the political forces that they were elected to represent," the president said.

Ukraine will continue doing its utmost to secure the return home of the hostages, and one might expect news of their release in the very near future, he said. "I think very soon you will hear very important initiatives on this matter," Poroshenko said.

Earlier Savchenko confirmed that on December 7 she was in Minsk where she met with Zakharchenko and Plotnitsky. She said she acted with the agreement of Ukraine's Security Service and her main goal was to resolve the prisoner exchange issue. She said she sees these talks as the need to broaden 'the Minsk format'.