Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, left, welcomes German Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of their meeting in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) (Efrem Lukatsky)
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel has visited Ukraine, pledging to uphold anti-Russian sanctions for Russian actions in Ukraine.
Speaking after Thursday’s talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Merkel said Germany would support extending the European Union’ s restrictions against Russia over its support for rebels in eastern Ukraine. Merkel cited the lack of progress in fulfilling a 2015 peace deal.
More than 10,000 people have been killed in fighting in eastern Ukraine that erupted in 2014 weeks after Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. The peace agreement signed in Minsk in 2015 helped reduce the scope of fighting, but clashes have continued and a political settlement has stalled.
Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for the stalemate.
Poroshenko urged Russia to withdraw its forces and weapons from eastern Ukraine. Russia has denied having forces there.
German chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko give a statement following a meeting in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) (AP)
Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, right, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel review the honor guard during a welcome ceremony ahead of their meeting in Kiev, Ukraine Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) (AP)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel reviews the honor guard during a welcome ceremony in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) (AP)
Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, left, welcomes German Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of their meeting in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) (AP)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel reviews the honor guard during a welcome ceremony in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) (AP)
Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, left, welcomes German Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of their meeting in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) (AP)
Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, left, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel review the honor guard during a welcome ceremony ahead of their meeting in Kiev, Ukraine Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) (AP)
German chancellor Angela Merkel reviews the honor guard during a welcome ceremony in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) (AP)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel reviews the honor guard during a welcome ceremony in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) (AP)
Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko gives a statement following a meeting with German chancellor Angela Merkel in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) (AP)
German chancellor Angela Merkel gives a statement following a meeting with Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) (AP)
German chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko give a statement following a meeting in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) (AP)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits the memorial for Maidan activists who were killed during anti-government protests in 2014, dubbed the ‘Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred’, not far from the Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018. (Sergey Dolzhenko/Pool Photo via AP) (AP)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel shakes hand with Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman during their meeting in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018. (Sergey Dolzhenko/Pool Photo via AP) (AP)
