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Ukraine, US agree on further coordination if Donbas conflict escalates

14 February 2015 20:40 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and US President Barack Obama during a phone talk on Saturday agreed on further coordination of efforts in case of Ukrainian conflict escalation.

“Interlocutors discussed situation in Donbas and expressed concern about the events unfolding around Debaltsevo,” the statement published on Poroshenko’s official website read, APA reports quoting sputniknews.

“The President of Ukraine stressed the necessity of OSCE monitoring to confirm the ceasefire. Petro Poroshenko and Barack Obama also agreed on further coordination of efforts in case of escalation,” the statement concluded.

Poroshenko, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande also held phone talks earlier on Saturday.

The conversations were held ahead of a ceasefire in southeastern Ukraine, which is due to come into force at midnight local time on February 15 (February 14, 10:00 p.m. GMT).

The ceasefire was one out of the measures agreed on during the last reconciliation talks on Ukraine in the Belarus capital of Minsk.

The leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany, and Russia held a 16-hour summit in Minsk on Wednesday and early Thursday. The talks resulted in a new political deal, aimed at stopping the deadly conflict in eastern Ukraine.