Putin, Poroshenko Discuss Ukraine Crisis

Local Editor

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko discussed steps needed for a ceasefire and ways to end the conflict raging in eastern Ukraine, Putin's spokesman said Tuesday.

"The heads of state exchanged opinions about what needs to be done first in order to bring an end to the bloodletting in the southeast of the country as soon as possible," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

He further added: "The views of the presidents of the two countries about possible ways out of this difficult crisis overlap to a considerable degree," said Peskov.
Putin and Poroshenko met last week in Minsk but made no progress towards ending the conflict which has intensified in recent weeks as the West and Kiev accused Russia of deploying troops in Ukraine.

Russia has repeatedly denied its soldiers have been sent into Ukraine.
Meanwhile, a decision on whether Russian leader Vladimir Putin should be invited to the G20 summit in November is still some way off, host Australia said Wednesday, with NATO allies to be consulted this week.

Australia's trade minister warned on Tuesday that opposition to Putin's presence at the Group of 20 meeting in Brisbane was growing over Russia's action in Ukraine.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she would be speaking with NATO members at their summit in Wales to canvas opinion, but there was time for the Russian president to prove why he should still be at the table.

"Let me be clear about this, I didn't say I was going to NATO to lobby in relation to President Putin's attendance at the G20," she told reporters before leaving for Wales.
"What I did say is I expect the matter to be discussed. It would be naive to think it wouldn't come up for discussion.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team