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On 26 August Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko met his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in the Belarussian capital of Minsk, during an EU-Ukraine-Eurasian Union summit, reports Den. After the meeting, the first direct talks on the crisis in his country, Poroshenko said that "a roadmap will be prepared in order to achieve, as soon as possible, a ceasefire regime which absolutely must be bilateral in character". Putin said Russia would support a dialogue with pro-Russian separatists but stopping the fighting was a matter for Ukraine itself.
EU’s High Representative for External Affairs Catherine Ashton called for a ceasefire “linked to the proper management of borders” and the ensurance that humanitarian aid would reach people “in the proper manner in full line with international law”.
According to the Kiev daily —
the question now is wether Putin is ready to get out of this situation with dignity and without losing face. However, his statements in Minsk on the crisis in Eastern Ukraine and about the threats the implementation of the association agreement between the EU and Ukraine would bring to the Russian market do not go in that direction. It seems that the Russian leader is still living in his reality, his Novorossiya [new Russia] and imaginary threats from the EU and NATO.
