Ukraine says Putin, Poroshenko agree on 'permanent ceasefire' in Donbass region
Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko reached agreement with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Wednesday on a "permanent ceasefire" in eastern Ukraine's Donbass region, Poroshenko's press office said. The agreement was reached during a telephone conversation between the two presidents on Wednesday. The peace agreement was announced by Mr Poroshenko's office in a statement on the president website. "They reached a mutual understanding on steps leading to peace," it said. In a statement (in Russian), the Kremlin said a phone conversation had taken place on Wednesday between the two presidents in which their points of view had "coincided significantly" on possible ways to end the crisis. Mr Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told Russian news agency Ria-Novosti: "Putin and Poroshenko did not agree a ceasefire in Ukraine because Russia is not party to the conflict, they only discussed how to settle the conflict," BBC reports.
