Putin, Poroshenko hold bilateral meeting in Minsk

, Aug 27: Russian President

and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko Tuesday held a bilateral meeting in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

This is the first bilateral meeting between the heads of the two countries since Poroshenko took office in May, Xinhua reported.

"A bilateral meeting is underway ... there are very many topics for discussion," Peskov was quoted as saying.

The meeting took place when heads of the Customs Union and Ukraine met here to discuss the Ukraine crisis and economic cooperation.

Earlier, Putin and Poroshenko had a brief conversation at the D-Day celebration ceremony in France in June.

IANS