Poroshenko: Ukraine will talk

On Friday, Poroshenko's office reported that he told the EU foreign policy chief that he could meet with separatists and Russian officials on Saturday. A contact group including a former Ukrainian president, Russia's ambassador to Kyiv, and a high-ranking official from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has tried to mediate an end to the conflict.

"Ukraine has proposed a place and time for the meeting and is waiting the other party's confirmation," Poroshenko's office reported.

A ceasefire expired Monday, after separatists refused to hand back a border post that Poroshenko had demanded, among other reasons. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Russia's Vladimir Putin had urged Poroshenko to keep the ceasefire going.

'Liquidating terrorists'

Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Andriy Parubiy said Eastern Ukraine: Plan 'B,' as in 'bombs':forces had used heavy weaponry# to attack separatist positions Friday. Parubiy said that Ukraine's government had recaptured 17 villages since the unilateral ceasefire expired. He said that Ukrainian forces now controlled 23 of the 36 local regions within the Donetsk and Luhansk administrative divisions, where the separatist movement claims its stronghold.

"Fighting aiming at defending the border and liquidating terrorists in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions continues," Parubiy said at a news conference Friday. "This is taking place during the constant movement of military equipment and armed forces of the Russian Federation close to Ukraine's border."

Parubiy said that separatists continued to attack Ukrainian border checkpoints in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions and that the assaults came from both inside his country and from Russian territory. Overnight, rebels also shelled the Donetsk airport overnight.

Ukrainian officials allege that Russia has armed the separatists, a charge that leaders in Moscow deny. However, the country did annex the Crimean peninsula in March, and Ukrainian officials worry that their eastern neighbor might try to grab more territory. Some separatists have asked for annexation, and Russian nationalists have urged President Vladimir Putin to send troops into Ukraine, but he has resisted those demands as the European Union and United States have increased their sanctions.

Fighting since the ceasefire ended has left scores of separatists and up to a dozen soldiers dead, the government announced. The army targeted six separatist positions and surrounded the town of Nikolajevka, according to a spokesman for its anti-terrorism unit. The fighting also left four soldiers wounded.

The conflict has displaced thousands of people.

mkg/slk (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)