President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko expects that the current Ukraine-EU summit will be a clear signal to the international community about the unity of aspirations, adding that Ukraine expects the EU's greater involvement in the settlement of the Donbas crisis.

"We hope for further strengthening of the leading role of the European Union in the process of a peaceful resolution to the situation in Donbas and the support of Ukraine's international initiatives for ending the occupation of Crimea," he said, opening the plenary meeting of the Ukraine-EU summit in Kyiv on Thursday, July 13.

"I expect that our meeting will send a clear signal to the Ukrainian people, citizens of the European Union and the whole world about our unity and solidarity, common conviction about the strength of our values," the president said.

At the same time, according to Poroshenko, the Normandy format is the only important tool today for ensuring de-escalation of the conflict and the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory.