In a phone call on Thursday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the need to send more Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) monitors to the south-east of Ukraine in order to speed up the deployment of observation posts along the line of contact.

"Poroshenko informed [Merkel] of the situation in Donbas. The parties reiterated the need to increase the number of OSCE monitors and bolster the mission's technical equipment in order to accelerate the deployment of OSCE observation posts along the line of contact," the Ukrainian leader's press service said.

Poroshenko and Merkel also discussed the possibility of imposing further Russian sanctions, which should stay in force until the Minsk agreements are implemented in full and Kyiv restores control over the entire Ukrainian-Russian border.