Putin Meets Poroshenko, He Says Ukraine Talks 'Good'

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday he had had "good" talks about the Ukraine crisis with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko and EU leaders in Milan.

Asked by journalists how the talks had gone, Putin said simply they were "good", the state news agency TASS reported.

After the meeting ended he was the first to leave, TASS reported.

Ahead of the latest round of talks, Germany's Angela Merkel said there was "no breakthrough yet."

Earlier on Friday, Putin met Poroshenko in Milan in the latest attempt to ease tensions over the simmering conflict in eastern Ukraine.

EU leaders also attended the breakfast meeting at the Milan prefecture building, held amid very sharp differences with Moscow over implementation of a ceasefire and peace accord agreed last month between Kiev and pro-Russian rebels.

Talks between Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel that continued into the early hours of Friday morning were said by the Kremlin to have exposed major differences over the roots of the conflict.

"There are still serious differences concerning the origin of Ukraine's internal conflict, as well as the root causes of what is currently happening," Russian news agencies quoted Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.

A ceasefire, reached on September 5 in Minsk, has repeatedly been violated by both sides.

The EU leaders were also expected to confront Putin over his warnings that gas supplies to western Europe could be disrupted this winter if Russia cuts deliveries to Ukraine, as it has threatened to do if there is no agreement with Kiev over payment.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi later said he was "really positive" on the prospects for a solution to the Ukraine conflict.

"In general, I am really positive after this meeting," Renzi said after the talks in Milan which were also attended by the leaders of Britain, France and Germany.

"I hope this spirit (of dialogue) ... will continue," he said, citing a sense of urgency to solve a conflict which has cost more than 3,600 lives.

Putin said that Moscow had agreed a deal with France, Germany and Italy to use reconnaissance drones to monitor fighting in Ukraine following talks with counterpart Petro Poroshenko.

"It was agreed that we will use unmanned aviation devices, modern technology, which allow you to pinpoint where strikes hit," Putin said. "Italy, France, Germany and Russia expressed their desire to work together."