Ukraine's new president signaled on Wednesday he would be ready to hold talks with opponents in eastern Ukraine if pro-Russian separatists waging an insurgency there agreed to lay down their weapons, according to Reuters.
The rebels show no sign of giving up their arms, but opening talks would be a big step on the road to peace, building on Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's meetings this week with Moscow's envoy and with Russian President Vladimir Putin in France last week, Reuters reported.
Poroshenko, trying to act swiftly after being sworn in as president on Saturday, was quoted by his press office as telling the governor of the Donetsk region of east Ukraine that he would not rule out holding "roundtable" talks with "different parties," according to Reuters.
"We do not need negotiations for the sake of negotiations. Our peace plan must become the basis for further de-escalation of the conflict," a statement on the president's website quoted Poroshenko as saying at a meeting with Governor Serhiy Taruta, Reuters reported. "Terrorists must lay down their weapons," he added, Reuters reported.
Donetsk is at the heart of the rebellion by separatists who oppose centralized rule from the national capital, Kiev, and want Russia to annex parts of the mainly Russian-speaking east as it did the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea in March, according to Reuters.
Taruta, one of the country's richest men, was brought in by Kiev to try to keep the eastern regions within Ukraine soon after Poroshenko's predecessor was ousted following months of protests and fled to Russia in February, Reuters reported.
The meeting with Taruta was Poroshenko's latest attempt to win backing for peace proposals he announced on taking office but without offering details, according to Reuters. He has also said that before making any foreign trips as president, he will visit the Donbass coal-mining area, where Donetsk is the main city.
Poroshenko talked by telephone on Tuesday and Wednesday with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who applauded the Ukrainian leader's commitment to implementing his peace proposal, the White House said, Reuters reported.
