MINSK, August 26 (RIA Novosti) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called the initiative of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to create a fund for the renewal of eastern Ukraine “timely.”
"I think that this initiative is extremely on time and believe that it will be important if we provide common participation in it," Poroshenko said.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk earlier said that $8 billion might be needed to rebuild the infrastructure in the country’s east.
Since mid-April the Ukrainian government has been conducting a military operation in the east of Ukraine attempting to suppress independence supporters who refused to acknowledge the new government that came to power after the coup that took place in Ukraine on February 22.
Thousands of civilians have died as a result of the violent confrontation. Moscow has repeatedly condemned the operation and urged for a ceasefire to prevent further casualties, sending a humanitarian convoy to the war-torn eastern Ukraine that has delivered about 2,000 tons of humanitarian aid.
Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Russia and EU member states are taking part in a multilateral meeting in Minsk where acute issues are expected to be discussed, including the Ukrainian crisis, the humanitarian situation in the east of the country, the possibility of talks between Kiev and eastern Ukraine, as well as Ukraine’s association agreement with the European Union.
It is hoped that the participants will manage to work out a road map for non-violent resolution of the conflict in the troubled east of Ukraine.
