(VOVworld) – Mikhail Koval, Deputy Secretary of the Ukraine National Security and Defense Council, on Monday said that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had approved a special military campaign in the eastern provinces of Donetsk and Lugansk.

Ukrainian soldiers stand guard in front of an armoured personnel carrier at a checkpoint in the village of Malinivka, east of Slaviansk in eastern Ukraine April 24, 2014. (Photo: Reuteurs)

Under the plan, Ukraine’s army will use siege tactics to force the militants to lay down their arms. Poroshenko appointed a new Commander for the National Security Service’s Anti-Terrorism Centre to restructure the organisation.
French President Francois Hollande and US President Barack Obama discussed the situation in eastern Ukraine during a 45-minute telephone call on Tuesday. The two leaders called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to urge federalist protesters in the region to hold talks with the Kiev government. Hollande and Obama also called for a meeting with representatives from the protesters on a bilateral ceasefire, believing that the answer to Ukraine’s crisis was a political solution.