Clinton Sets Meeting With Ukraine's Poroshenko
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will meet with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, her campaign said on September 14, in an effort to contrast her pro-Kyiv stance with her Republican opponent Donald Trump's public comments in support of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Clinton's meeting with Poroshenko, whose country has struggled economically and politically since Moscow forcibly annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and fueled a war with separatists in eastern Ukraine, will occur on the sidelines of a UN General Assembly meeting in New York next week.
Ukrainian officials said on September 14 that both Clinton and Trump had been invited to meet Poroshenko, but so far only Clinton has confirmed.
Aides said the former secretary of state will use the meeting with Poroshenko to burnish her foreign policy credentials and show her solidarity with Ukraine.
Based on reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters
IMF Approves $1 Billion Loan For Ukraine After One-Year Delay
By RFE/RL
The International Monetary Fund on September 14 approved a loan disbursement for Ukraine of $1 billion after a delay of more than a year that reflected concern about corruption and stability in the war-torn nation.
The IMF in March 2015 had agreed to provide Kyiv with $17.5 billion over four years as long as the government continued to make progress on improving its management of the economy and fighting corruption.
To date, Ukraine has received about $7.62 billion of the loans. The latest disbursement was less than the $1.7 billion Kyiv hoped to get, showing the fund still has concerns about stalled reforms.
But the IMF said its executive board approved waivers allowing loans to resume despite Kyiv's failure to meet targets on limiting debt, boosting international reserves, and easing foreign exchange restrictions.
President Petro Poroshenko hailed the IMF's decision as a triumph, saying it would clear the way for an additional $1 billion U.S. loan guarantee and a new 600 million-euro loan from the European Union.
He said a Russian attempt to block the IMF's decision had failed and that the new loans would help keep the hryvnia currency stable and aid the economy.
"The positive decision by the IMF is evidence that the world recognizes that reforms are happening in Ukraine, that real and positive changes are happening in Ukraine, and that the country is moving in the right direction," Poroshenko said on Twitter.
Ukrainian Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk said the IMF decision should clear the way for the sale of about $1 billion in U.S.-guaranteed bonds by the end of September.
Ukraine's economy has suffered a deep decline after two years of war with Russia-backed separatists in the east, where most of its industries are located. Its economic output plummeted by 9.9 percent in 2015.
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said that Ukraine is showing "welcome signs of recovery" and improved confidence, which she attributed to the implementation of reforms, sound macroeconomic policies, and efforts to rehabilitate Ukraine's banking system.
"While the social and economic cost of the crisis has been high, growth is expected to be higher in the period ahead," Lagarde said.
"A sustainable recovery requires completing the structural transformation of the economy, where much remains to be done, including combating corruption and improving governance," she said.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
This ends our live blogging for September 14. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.
Steinmeier: Kyiv agrees to new truce for east:
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier says Ukrainian leaders have agreed to observe a new cease-fire for the country's east.
Steinmeier was speaking in Kyiv on September 14 at a joint press conference with his French and Ukrainian counterparts, Jean-Marc Ayrault and Pavlo Klimkin, following talks with President Petro Poroshenko.
"We came with a promise from Moscow that effective [September 15] there will be a truce that will last at least a week," Steinmeier also said, a day after the leaders of the Russia-backed separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions declared a unilateral cease-fire.
The sides earlier agreed to abide by a truce to coincide with the start of the school year on September 1, but it failed to stop the fighting between government forces and separatists that has killed more than 9,500 people since April 2014.
Ayrault urged the Ukrainian leadership to commit themselves more fully to the February 2015 Minsk agreement brokered by Berlin and Paris, saying, "There is no Plan B."
The peace plan envisages holding elections in separatist-held areas and partial autonomy for the country's eastern regions.
Klimkin said an agreement with Russia over "the sequence of steps and guarantees" for implementing the peace terms was needed. (AP, Reuters, dpa, AFP)