Most Russian troops in Ukraine have withdrawn, Ukrainian president says
September 10, 2014 -- Updated 1154 GMT (1954 HKT)
"This is another hope
that peaceful initiatives have a good perspective," Poroshenko is quoted
as saying during a Cabinet meeting in Kiev on Wednesday.
The remarks came several
days into a shaky ceasefire deal between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russia
rebels, signed last Friday after nearly five months of fighting in
eastern Ukraine.
The Presidents of Russia and Ukraine are "broadly satisfied" with the status of the ceasefire, a Kremlin aide said Wednesday.
One woman killed during Ukraine ceasefire
President Vladimir Putin
and Poroshenko spoke by phone Tuesday night, Kremlin foreign policy
adviser Yuri Ushakov told Russia's Interfax news agency.
"On the whole,
satisfaction was expressed on our part and by the Ukrainian side with
how the ceasefire is being observed although it is a difficult process,"
Ushakov said.
Moscow has repeatedly denied allegations by Kiev and the West that it is sending Russian troops over the border into Ukraine.
Meanwhile, EU leaders are weighing whether to pull the trigger on tougher sanctions against Russia.
Talks are planned
Thursday in Brussels among diplomats from the 28 member nations,
following a decision Monday to put on hold for at least a "few days" a
new package of economic penalties against Russia over its encroachment
in Ukraine.
The delay offered more
time to assess the effectiveness of the ceasefire without risking
further trade retaliation by the Kremlin, which has said it will respond
if new sanctions come into force.
.
OSCE to deploy drones
The chairman of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which is monitoring
the truce, said Wednesday that more observers would be sent to eastern
Ukraine.
"Around 70 specialists
are in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions this week already to monitor the
ceasefire. Further monitors are being recruited and deployed as we
speak," Didier Burkhalter said.
The OSCE will be using
its own drones over the region soon, he said. A discussion is also under
way on the possible deployment of drones from some of the 57 member
states of the OSCE.
Burkhalter, who is also
the Swiss President and Foreign Minister, said his country was ready to
support the OSCE mission in Ukraine with up to 10 additional monitors
and an extra 500,000 euros ($647,000.)
MH17 crash report
Russian Defense Minister
Sergey Shoigu blamed Ukraine for the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight
17 in comments Wednesday after meeting with Malaysian Defense Minister
Hishammuddin Hussein in Moscow, Russia's state-run Itar-Tass new agency
reported.
"The catastrophe happened in the skies of Ukraine, which is fully responsible for what happened," Shoigu is quoted as saying.
"I'm convinced that this
tragedy wouldn't have happened if Ukraine had solved its internal
crisis without use of military force, including artillery, missiles, and
war aviation."
A preliminary report into the crash
in July, released by Dutch aviation investigators Tuesday, said the
plane was brought down by "high energy objects" from outside.
The U.S. and Ukraine
have accused pro-Russian separatists operating in the region of downing
the plane, which had 298 people on board, using a Russian-made missile
system.
The report supports the
theory of a warhead exploding in close proximity to the passenger jet,
but it doesn't point any fingers at who might have fired it.
Victoria Butenko reported from Kiev; Laura Smith-Spark wrote from London
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