Biden holds separate conversations with Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk
US Vice President Joe Biden held separate phone conversations with President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk in which he called on the two politicians to unite Ukraine’s ruling coalition, according to a statement made by the White House.
"He [Biden] called on the leadership of Ukraine to unite and restore the confidence of the public around a strong coalition… as well as to accelerate Ukraine's efforts to combat corruption, strengthen justice and the rule of law and to fulfill the requirements of the IMF,” the statement read.
The Vice-President also emphasized the importance of implementing the Minsk Agreements by all parties, "as the best way forward to resolve the conflict." During the conversations, the Ukrainian leaders noted "the continuing failure on the part of Russia and the combined Russian-separatist forces to comply with their commitments to the cease-fire" and expressed the need for the OSCE to have access to all territories in eastern Ukraine.
This is Biden’s second conversation with Poroshenko over the past two days. On Thursday, the Vice President commended Poroshenko for his decision to replace Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, “which paves the way for needed reform of the prosecutorial service.”