Kerry, Merkel, Hollande Travel to Ukraine to Discuss Tension with Russia
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Photo by Vladimir Shtanko/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images(KIEV, Ukraine) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced $16.5 million in U.S. assistance to Ukraine in the form of humanitarian aid after meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Thursday.
The funds will be used to “provide urgently needed shelter and home repairs, blankets, bedding, warm clothing, and other support to meet the most critical humanitarian needs,” according to the U.S. State Department.
A government statement on Thursday said that the Ukrainian government “supports the joint efforts of France, Germany, the EU and the US in resolving the conflict and stopping Russian aggression.” Yatsenyuk, citing the cease-fire agreement in Minsk last year that has been largely unsuccessful in stopping violence, said that “we have — or had — a deal in Minsk. And President Putin’s fingerprints are on this agreement. To have a new agreement without fulfilling the previous one — it seems to me a trap.”
On Thursday, the Ukrainian hryvnia plunged about 30 percent in a matter of seconds, following an announcement that the Ukrainian Central Bank would end efforts to prop up the currency’s value. The hyrvnia was the world’s worst performing currency in 2014.
Later on Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The Ukrainian leader thanked the pair for “their significant role in the process of de-escalation, establishment of peace in Ukraine and efforts already made for the stabilization of the situation.” The negotiations held between Poroshenko, Merkel and Hollande “let us hope that there will be a result in the ceasefire,” Poroshenko said in a statement.
Merkel and Hollande are expected to fly next to Moscow with the cease-fire proposal, supported by the U.S., to present it to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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