Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the situation in eastern Ukraine in a phone conversation, the presidential press service said in a statement on Thursday.

During the talks, the two leaders exchanged their views on the ways to ensure progress in a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Donbas, the statement said.

In particular, Poroshenko and Merkel discussed the prospects for the deployment of peacekeepers in the conflict-hit region, it said.

Conflicts in Donbas region has claimed the lives of more than 10,000 people and left approximately 24,000 others injured.

On Sept. 5, 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would ask the UN Security Council to send peacekeepers to patrol the contact line in Donbas.

Meanwhile, Kiev said it would agree to the deployment of the UN patrol only if the troops would be stationed across the whole area controlled by the armed groups, including the Ukrainian-Russian border.