ANKARA
U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have agreed in a phone call that Russia should use its influence to stop the passage across its border of weapons and fighters into eastern Ukraine.
The leaders said they wanted to stop the armed conflict in Ukraine, said Steffen Seibert, a spokesman for the German government.
The leaders said their common goal was stabilizing Ukraine and enabling it to make its own democratic choices. The phone call took place Thursday.
The government in Kiev and pro-Russian secessionist fighters declared cease-fire on June 20. But Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko declined to extend the ceasefire when it expired this week, citing what he said were violations by the separatists. Ukrainian forces launched a wide-scale military operation against pro-Russian separatists after a ten-day ceasefire ends. On Tuesday, government forces bombed a separatist training camp in the city of Slavyansk, reportedly killing about 250 separatists.
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