Dmitry Peskov
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko spoke on the phone, but did not discuss the issue of cessation of hostilities in the plant. About it told journalists the Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, reports TASS on Thursday, March 2.
“The fact of the cease-fire in the plant was not discussed. Took place the exchange of opinions and the expression of mutual concerns arising from the escalation of tensions,” — said Peskov.
Earlier on Thursday, media reported with reference to the press service of Poroshenko that he twice called to the Kremlin during the aggravation of the situation in the Donbass. According to the Ukrainian side, the negotiations were coordinated with partners in the “Normandy format”, but have been to no avail.
At the same time “Kommersant” reported that the two leaders spoke four times by phone since the beginning of 2017. The date of the last call was called on 21 February.
The day before Ukrainian security forces refused to take weapons in the zone of the conflict in Donbas. Representatives of the Kiev authorities and the self-proclaimed republics accused each other in the regular shelling.
The aggravation of the situation in the South-East of Ukraine took place in late January after APU tried to go on the offensive. The fighting near Avdeevka called the most violent since August 2015..