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               Ukraine Ready to Hold Fresh Talks With Separatists

   by VOA News

   Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko says Ukraine is ready to hold a
   new round of talks with pro-Russian separatist leaders and Russian
   officials on Saturday.

   Poroshenko's office said Friday that he told European Union foreign
   policy chief Catherine Ashton in a telephone call that he had suggested
   a time and place for the talks and is "waiting for confirmation from
   the other party."

   Earlier Friday, Poroshenko, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French
   President Francois Hollande discussed the situation in eastern Ukraine
   in a three-way phone call.

   Merkel's office said they agreed that a mutual cease-fire is a
   prerequisite to stabilize the situation and that Kyiv and Moscow must
   work together to secure the Ukrainian-Russian border. They also called
   on Russia to "use its influence over the separatists."

   Merkel discussed the Ukraine crisis with President Barack Obama in a
   telephone call Thursday.

   The White House said in a statement that the two leaders "stressed that
   Russia must take immediate steps to de-escalate" the conflict and
   agreed that the U.S. and Europe "should take further coordinated
   measures to impose costs on Russia if it does not take steps toward
   de-escalation in short order."

   On Wednesday, the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, France and
   Germany met in Berlin and said talks aimed at resuming a cease-fire
   between the Ukrainian military and pro-Russian rebels should begin no
   later than Saturday.

   Last month, separatist leaders met with Ukrainian ex-president Leonid
   Kuchma as Kyiv's representative. Moscow's ambassador to Kyiv and
   members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
   (OSCE) also attended the talks in the eastern Ukrainian city of
   Donetsk.

   President Poroshenko declared a unilateral, week-long cease-fire June
   20 and then extended it by three days. Citing lack of cooperation from
   rebels, he refused a second extension and ordered the resumption of
   military operations on Tuesday.

   The Ukrainian president told Vice President Joe Biden in a phone
   conversation Thursday he was ready to return to a cease-fire as soon as
   it can be confirmed that both sides are observing it.  He also said a
   cease-fire was contingent on all hostages being released and control
   over the Ukrainian-Russian border being established, with monitoring by
   the OSCE.

   Fighting continues in eastern Ukraine, with the press center of Kyiv's
   "anti-terrorist operation" reporting that nine Ukrainian servicemen had
   been killed and 13 wounded in battles with separatist forces on Friday
   as of 2 p.m. local time.

   Also Friday, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry sent a note of protest to
   Moscow over what it called "regular gross violations of Ukrainian
   airspace" by Russia. It detailed what it said were several separate
   incidents on Thursday in which Russian military helicopters flew over
   Ukrainian territory

   The secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council,
   Andriy Parubiy, said Friday that if Russian aircraft violate Ukrainian
   airspace again, they will be shot down.

   Some information for this story was provided by Reuters and AFP.

   ''

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   h-rebels/1951134.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/ukraine-ready-to-hold-fresh-talks-with-rebels/1951134.html