The Russian government said the controversial Moscow leader will hold the discussions with French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel separate from the annual economic meet, scheduled to start September 4 in Hangzhou.
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More than 9,500 people have been killed since the conflict started in April 2014, and deadly clashes continue to occur despite several truces.
Putin said during a visit to Crimea on Friday that Ukraine “doesn’t want to, or can’t for whatever reason, fulfill” its commitments under the February 2015 peace accords signed in Minsk, the Belarusian capital.
A spokesman for the Kremlin said: “Vladimir Putin drew his partners’ attention to the gross provocations by the Ukrainian side, which sent a group of saboteurs to the territory of the Russian Federation in Crimea to carry out terrorist attacks in early August”.
“Kiev’s tend to such kind of military actions damages the Minsk process and cooperation within the Normandy format”, TASS cited the statement as saying.
An Associated Press reporter in the government-controlled town of Maryinka on the frontline with the rebel stronghold of Donetsk heard heavy artillery throughout the night on Monday and early on Tuesday. “Even kids don’t go outside for a walk, they’re scared”.
Ukraine said the incident never happened, while the European Union and the US also cast doubt on the credibility of the Russian allegation.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called the claim ” absurd and cynical”, saying it was “a pretext for the latest military threats against Ukraine”. Hollande also expressed concern with the increase in ceasefire violations registered by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) over recent weeks.
Kiev and the West accuse Russian Federation of supporting the separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine and deploying troops across the border – claims Moscow denies.
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Russian officials said Putin has discussed the matter with Hollande and Merkel in recent days by telephone.
