You're reading: Poroshenko says Ukraine strives for peace

At the meeting in Minsk, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko is willing to hold negotiations on peace, for "the whole world is tired of war".

“Ukraine strives for peace,” the president said in the course of a working visit to Mykolaiv.

He said that on August 26, together with a powerful team consisting of three high EU representatives, he is going to Minsk to speak of peace.

The president said that Ukraine would urge to withdraw militants from its territory at the meeting.

“I am confident that we will manage to achieve that,” Poroshenko said.

“To have a strong negotiating position on peace, we must be strong, have the unity of people, a powerful country and a strong army,” he said.

“We are capable of defending our sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity. Today, we are fighting for the independence of Ukraine. We will certainly win,” Poroshenko said.

As reported, on August 26, Minsk will host a meeting of the heads of the states of the Eurasian troika (Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan) with Poroshenko, which will also be attended by representatives of the European Commission. The meeting will be attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin.