D-Day spirit ignites Ukraine peace hopes as Putin meets Poroshenko
Russian president holds discussion with Ukraine's president-elect at D-Day memorial ceremony in positive sign the two can work together to resolve violent conflict
Russia and Ukraine appeared to have made a long-awaited breakthrough in efforts to resolve a damaging crisis in their relations after conciliatory talks on the sidelines of Friday’s D-Day anniversary ceremonies.
Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian president-elect Petro Poroshenko embraced the spirit of the day that signalled the end of the second world war by announcing they would jointly seek a ceasefire in the conflict between government forces and pro-Russian rebels in southeastern Ukraine.
The two leaders shook hands and talked for a quarter of an hour in a meeting brokered by French President Francois Hollande before a lunch of world leaders attending the D-Day events.
A series of positive commentaries on the encounter followed from both Kiev and Moscow, raising hopes of a peaceful de-escalation of a crisis that erupted when Russia annexed Crimea in March and sparked a damaging chill in its relations with western powers.
The rift with the West looked to be healing too as Putin had his first face-to-face encounter with US President Barack Obama. US officials styled the meeting as an informal chat but Putin portrayed them as “substantial” discussions.
Putin told Russian TV that Poroshenko had the “right approach” to ending the crisis while the Ukrainian president-elect, who is due to be inaugurated on Saturday, said he believed there was a “good chance” of a successful dialogue with Moscow.
