Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed proposals for peace in Ukraine with US President Barack Obama on Monday, the Kremlin said in a statement, after Ukraine's leader announced a ceasefire in military operations in the east, informing Reuters. US President urged Putin to support peace in Ukraine and said Moscow would face further "costs" if it did not take steps to reduce tensions in the country, the White House said.
"They discussed ... the implementation of the peace plan proposed by the President Petr Poroshenko," the Kremlin said. "Putin stressed that priority must be given to halting military operations and to the start of direct negotiations between the opposing sides."
It was the first time that Putin and Obama had spoken since they met at D-Day 70th anniversary celebrations in Normandy, France on June 6.
Meanwhile, the representatives of Ukraine, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Russia have begun multilateral talks at the Donetsk regional state administration.
The talks involve Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov, representative for the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) chairman-in-office Tagliavini, Ukraine's second president Kuchma, Ukrainian Choice movement leader Medvedchuk, DPR Prime Minister Borodai, South-East movement leader Tsaryov and representatives of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic.
Ukrainian President Petr Poroshenko's office said a "trilateral contact group" representing Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe was due to meet on Monday to ponder guidelines for implementing Poroshenko's plan for settling the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine.
"It is expected that Heidi Tagliavini, special representative of the OSCE chairperson-in-office, and (Russian Ambassador to Ukraine) Mikhail Zurabov will take part in the negotiations in Donetsk. The second Ukrainian president, Leonid Kuchma, will take part in the meeting at the request of the head of state,"the president's office said in a statement.
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