KIEV, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Wednesday that there is no alternative to a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Ukraine's eastern region of Donbas.
"The peaceful politically-diplomatic way of restoring territorial integrity is the priority option, which currently has no alternative," Poroshenko told reporters during a press conference "Challenges-2018" in Kiev.
He pledged that Kiev will adhere to the Minsk agreements to resolve the confrontation and will strive for the deployment of the UN peacekeeping troops in the conflict-hit region.
The armed confrontation between Ukrainian government troops and pro-independence insurgents in Donbas region has been underway since April 2014, claiming about 10,000 lives.
The Minsk agreements, reached in September 2014 and February 2015 respectively, are designed to peacefully end the conflict. They envisage a ceasefire, a withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the contact line, a prisoner exchange and local elections, among other measures.
