Putin: Ready to talk solutions

At a meeting in Moscow Wednesday with Didier Burkhalter (left in photo), 2014 chairperson of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) said he would discuss options for ending Ukraine's conflict. Clashes have killed about 90 in the past week.

"I know you have your own proposals, your ideas of how to find a way out of the situation that has occurred," Putin said Wednesday at the meeting with Burkhalter. "Our position is known, too. Let's try to analyze the situation and seek ways out of this crisis."

On Tuesday, foreign ministers from EU countries, Ukraine and Russia met in Vienna to discuss the conflict. Interim Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia said Moscow must recognize the presidential election on May 25 and help curb the separatist movement before further negotiations. Ahead of Wednesday's meeting, Burkhalter said hostilities in Ukraine would need to end before elections could take place.

"We need a ceasefire for the election," said Burkhalter, who also serves as Switzerland's foreign minister and president.

Putin discourages separatist referendum

The separatists have called their own independence referendum for May 11. On Wednesday, Putin said they should consider postponing that.

Putin said his country had pulled back from the border, although both the US and NATO later said they had seen no evidence of this.

Washington said on Wednesday evening it was removing special trade benefits that mean Russian imports to the US are subject to lower tax rates. The White House said the move reflected Russia's economic development and was not directly related to Ukraine, although it said the events made it "particularly appropriate to take this step now."

The International Monetary Fund delivered its first aid installment to Ukraine Wednesday. The initial $3.19 billion (2.3 billion euros) is part of an overall $17 billion package from the IMF.

Fighting continues

Ukraine's Channel 5 television station reported Wednesday that troops had forced rebels who were holed up inside the city hall in Mariupol out onto the streets, where they blocked the main thoroughfare and set tires and a trolleybus on fire. Traffic was able to move again later in the morning. Ukraine's interim government reported that it had captured separatist "defense minister" Igor Kakidzyanov in Wednesday's operations.

On Wednesday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague visited Kyiv to promise support in containing the separatists, calling any Russian action to prevent the May 25 election a "blow to democracy."

Rhetoric has sharpened leading up to celebrations on Friday in Russia and Ukraine of the Soviet victory over German forces in World War II, with both Moscow and Kyiv accusing each other of Nazi-like "fascism."

mkg/rc (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)