Putin to meet Ukraine President Poroshenko

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko next week to discuss the ongoing security crisis in eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin said Tuesday. Putin will attend a meeting of the leaders of the Customs Union member states with Poroshenko in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, on August 26, a statement from Kremlin press office said. A bilateral meeting between Putin and Poroshenko will take place on the sidelines of the event, which will also be attended by European Commission representatives. Unrest in eastern Ukraine has torn the region apart since April, when Kiev launched "anti-terror" operations against armed separatists seeking to break away from Ukraine following the annexation of Crimea into Russia in March.