President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has reported that Ukraine, the European Union and Russia by June 27 could conduct trilateral consultations between experts regarding the situation in the eastern regions.
“Ukrainian President said that he believes that Russia will support the
peace plan not just with words, but with deeds. Poroshenko also didn’t
rule out carrying of the trilateral Ukraine-Russia-EU consultations at
the expert level by June 27,” the presidential press service reported,
referring to a telephone conversation of Poroshenko with European
Council President Herman van Rompuy.
According to the report, the conversation addressed the signing of
the economic part of the association agreement between Ukraine and the
EU and coordination of their position before the June 27 Council of
Europe meeting.
“Petro Poroshenko told Herman Van Rompuy about 29 instances of
ceasefire violations by militants in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions,”
the press service reported.
The Ukrainian president pointed out the need for unconditional
fulfillment of such elements of the peace plan as the creation of a 10
kilometer buffer zone, release of hostages, and restoration of control
on both sides of the Ukrainian-Russian border to stop illegal supply of
weapons, equipment, mercenaries, and narcotics.
Poroshenko also told the European Council president he has received
confirmation from the OSCE about the sending of an observer mission to
checkpoints in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. “We also suggest that
Russia should sent its monitors through the OSCE mission,” Poroshenko
said.
Herman Van Rompuy, for his part, gave high marks to the Ukrainian
president’s plan for settling the situation in eastern Ukraine. He said
that the EU countries and the whole world back this plan.
Herman Van Rompuy also expressed concerns about the situation in
eastern Ukraine and told Poroshenko additional sanctions may be imposed
on Russia if not everything is done to restore peace.
The European Council president also told Poroshenko about the
completion of the preparations for signing the economic part of the
association agreement with Ukraine, which is scheduled to take place in
Brussels on June 27. Poroshenko, for his part, thanked Herman Van Rompuy
for supporting Ukraine’s European ambitions.
