Ukraine said on Wednesday it was confident of receiving further aid under a $17 billion IMF bailout but appealed to Western institutions and donors for further cash and credit to rebuild the east, shattered by separatist conflict.
Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk told his ministers that the criteria laid down in the International Monetary Fund's programme had been met and he believed Ukraine was on course to secure soon a second tranche of $1.5 billion.
The ex-Soviet republic received a first slice of slightly more than $3 billion in May under a programme drawn up to help the ex-Soviet republic plug holes in its budget and settle a big foreign debt.
But Ukraine told international donors on Tuesday in Brussels that the Fund's bailout was not enough to bring about a full recovery because of the drain on the economy caused by the separatist conflict in eastern, Russian-speaking regions.
Pro-Russian separatists have been fighting government forces in the east since April in a conflict in which more than 200 Ukrainian troops have been killed as well as hundreds of civilians and rebels.
The surge of separatism followed political upheaval in Kiev which led to the ousting of a Moscow-backed president followed by Russia's annexation of Crimea.
The conflict has driven relations between Ukraine and Russia to rock bottom with Kiev accusing Moscow of supporting the rebels who have set up 'people's republics' and said they want to join Russia.
After losing a key stronghold, Slaviansk, to government forces at the weekend, separatist forces are now digging in in the big industrial hub of Donetsk, a city of more than 900,000 people. They also remain strong in the city of Luhansk on the border with Russia.
On another note, Ukraine accused
Russia on Wednesday of abducting a woman army officer captured by separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine and demanded she be released and returned home.
Nadezhda Savchenko, 33, was seized by pro-Russian rebels in June while she was fighting with pro-government militia on the outskirts of Luhansk on the border with Russia, local media said.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Savchenko had been spirited across the border illegally after she was seized by the separatists.
"This is yet more confirmation that the terrorists plan and carry out their crimes in Ukraine in close contact with the intelligence services of the Russian Federation," it said.
"By openly abducting citizens of Ukraine on the territory of their state, the Russian authorities not only violate all international norms but also exceed elementary norms of decency and morality," the statement added.
There was no immediate comment by Russian officials.
According to Ukrainian media reports, Savchenko is a helicopter pilot who, during official leave, fought with a pro-government militia group called the Aidar battalion.
"We expect the Russian side to take steps to unconditionally free Nadezhda Savchenko and return her quickly to her motherland", the statement said.
Germany's Merkel:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Wednesday, with the aim of restarting talks with separatists on a ceasefire, Merkel's spokesman said.
"The Chancellor expressed her hope that talks of the contact group will finally commence again with participation from the separatists in order to discuss a mutual ceasefire and the implementation of the peace plan," Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a statement.
Seibert added that Merkel and Hollande had called on Russia to use its influence over the pro-Russian separatists to stop weapons and fighters flowing into Ukraine from Russia.
REUTERS