WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko have discussed ways to effectively monitor and control the uneasy border between Russia and eastern Ukraine.
Obama and Poroshenko spoke by phone on Wednesday. The White House says they discussed how all sides must live up to a cease-fire deal signed last month in Minsk. The deal has helped reduce hostilities but failed to completely halt fighting.
The White House says Obama and Poroshenko also conferred on energy security, political reform and Ukraine’s effort to bolster its economy. Obama praised the Ukrainian parliament’s passage of legislation to fight corruption.
The call comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin is on a diplomatic blitz involving meetings with Western leaders about Ukraine. The U.S. and Europe have sanctioned Moscow over its actions in Ukraine.
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