KIEV, August 16 (RIA Novosti) - Helsinki is ready to help Ukrainians peacefully resolve the crisis in the east of the country, Ukrainian president’s press service said Saturday quoting Finnish President Sauli Niinisto.
“I want to assure you and all the Ukrainians that small Finland is ready to do its utmost to help you resolve this situation that we understand very well. The most important now is to bring peace to the Ukrainian people who are suffering,” the press service quoted Niinisto as saying at the meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
Poroshenko stressed the importance of the European Council putting the Ukrainian issue on the agenda of its next meeting scheduled for August 30.
“In case of the EU invitation, the head of the state is ready to join it [European Commission meeting] to discuss with the European leaders way out of the dangerous situation that the country is facing now,” the statement says.
Ukrainian and Finnish presidents also discussed the Kiev’s association with the European Union.
Since mid-April, Kiev has been conducting a military operation trying to suppress Luhansk and Donetsk regions, which refused to recognize the legitimacy of the country’s new government and chose to pursue independence.
Kiev’s military operation claimed lives of 1,367 people, another 4,087 have been wounded since mid-April, including 2,589 civilians and 29 children, according to a report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). At least 117,000 people have been forcibly displaced.
