As its forces advance, Ukraine says Poroshenko will meet with Putin
KYIV, Ukraine Ukrainian forces pushed deeper into territory controlled by pro-Russian rebels Tuesday, fighting street battles in the besieged city of Luhansk and pressuring the outer defenses of Donetsk in a further blow to the separatists’ crumbling virtual state.
While continuing its offensive, the Ukrainian government said it saw a real chance for a peaceful settlement after an announcement that President Vladimir Putin of Russia would meet next Tuesday with his Ukrainian counterpart, Petro Poroshenko, in Minsk, the capital of Belarus.
“I come with positive news. I think we have a chance to switch to a real road map towards a peaceful process,” Valery Chaly, the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, said at a news conference in Kyiv.
Previous efforts toward a settlement, which included a meeting of foreign ministers last week in Berlin, have all failed, and even an agreement on when and how a Russian aid convoy could enter Ukraine has proved elusive. The convoy of more than 260 trucks remained stuck on the Russian side of the border, a week after it left Moscow. Ukrainian officials expressed bewilderment over why many of the Russian trucks appeared to be mostly empty if their only purpose was to deliver humanitarian aid.
Despite the repeated diplomatic setbacks, Chaly said the two countries’ presidents stood a better chance of a breakthrough that could bring an end to the war in eastern Ukraine. Talks have foundered on Russia’s refusal to halt or even acknowledge what Ukraine and its Western supporters say is a steady flow of fighters and military hardware into Ukraine from Russia.
“We all realize that these issues can only be solved at the highest level, at the level of president, especially in the case of Russia,” Chaly said.
On the ground, fighting raged unabated, with Ukraine’s interior minister, Arsen Avakov, asserting that Ukrainian forces had entered the town of Ilovaysk, about 11 miles east of Donetsk, the rebels’ biggest remaining stronghold in eastern Ukraine.
The conflict in eastern Ukraine has left at least 2,086 dead and more than 5,000 wounded, according to the United Nations. Each side blames the other for the mounting toll.
New York Times