Poroshenko, Merkel discuss Ukraine situation

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the situation in Ukraine during a phone conversation Friday, the presidential press service said.

Speaking on the recent developments in eastern regions, Poroshenko warned that the conflict between government troops and independence-seeking insurgents was escalating due to the violations of the ceasefire deal inked in Minsk, Belarus Sep 5.

"The President noted a significant deviation from the implementation of the Minsk protocol, which leads to further escalation of the conflict," the statement on the presidential website said.

Another topic of the talks was implementation of natural gas agreements that were reached in the trilateral meeting between Ukraine, Russia and the European Union Oct 30.

During the conversation, Poroshenko noted that Kiev paid off the first tranche of its gas debt to Moscow, but has not yet received payments for Russian gas transit to Europe via Ukrainian territory.

The two sides also discussed the further coordination of international efforts towards a peaceful settlement of the situation in Ukraine's eastern regions ahead of the 9th G20 Summit in Brisbane, Australia slated for Nov 15 and 16.