Trump tells Poroshenko he will try to restore ‘peace’ at Russia-Ukraine border
US President Donald Trump promises his Ukrainian counterpart that he will collaborate with authorities in Russia and Ukraine in an effort to “restore peace” along the two countries' borders.
The White House announced in a statement that Trump had a "very good call" with Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko on Saturday afternoon, touching on "a variety of topics, including Ukraine's long-running conflict with Russia."
"We will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help them restore peace along the border," Trump told Poroshenko, according to a readout of the call as quoted by the White House, which further noted that they discussed "the potential for a meeting in the near future."
The first conversation between the two leaders came amid a sharp escalation of violence between Ukrainian government troops and the pro-Russian forces in the east that has claimed 35 lives in the past week.
Meanwhile, Kiev reportedly remained concerned that Trump was seeking to build better ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin as some analysts have linked the recent escalation of fighting in eastern Ukraine to the potential thaw in relations between Washington and Moscow. Others, however, have attributed the renewed clashes to more local issues.
Meanwhile, Poroshenko’s office put a more positive spin on his high-profile conversation with Trump, saying in a statement that the "sides expressed deep apprehension about the escalation in violence and the deterioration of the humanitarian situation."
The statement added that the two leaders "spoke in favor of energizing dialogue at all levels with the new US administration."
The talks came after Trump's phone conversation with Putin on January 28 that both sides described as constructive.
However, Washington's UN ambassador Nikki Haley slammed Russia's "aggressive actions" in Ukraine on Thursday -- a surprising attack considering Trump's supportive position regarding towards Putin.
Moscow has denied any responsibility for the Ukraine conflict, blaming Washington for provoking three months of massive street protests in Kiev that turned Ukraine towards the West.
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