KIEV (Sputnik) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has discussed the implementation of the Minsk peace agreements with US President Barack Obama, a statement on the Ukrainian presidential website says.
"We had a long conversation with US President Barack Obama. We had the opportunity to discuss further steps in the implementation of the Minsk agreements, decisive steps on the coordination of our actions with respect to creating a ‘road map’ on the implementation of these agreements, the security priorities of the Minsk agreements and the place and date of the implementation of the political parts of the Minsk process," Poroshenko said as quoted in the Thursday statement.
Obama and Poroshenko also discussed the reform progress in Ukraine, according to the presidential release.
In February 2015, a peace agreement was signed between Ukraine’s conflicting sides in the Belarusian capital, Minsk. Despite the fact that the deal stipulated a full ceasefire in Donbass, violations both on the part of Kiev forces and local militia have been reported. Kiev has also been reluctant to implement the political provisions of the deal.
Ukraine heavily relies on foreign aid to support its economy and to pay its debts amid the ongoing armed conflict with independence supporters in Donbass.
On March 11, 2015 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a four-year $17.5-billion financial aid package for Ukraine. The bailout package requires that Kiev implement a number of political reforms.
In March 2015, Ukraine received the first tranche worth $5 billion followed by the second tranche of $1.7 billion in August of the same year.
Earlier this month, the IMF executive board approved a new $1-billion tranche to Ukraine. The amount of the aid had been reduced from the originally planned $1.7 billion.
