(VOVworld) – Ukraine's Defence Minister Mykhailo Koval said on Friday that Kiev's forces have restored control of the border with Russia and can now prevent military equipment being brought across the frontier. Koval said the country’s forces have completed the encirclement of the region.

Fighting broke out just east of the town of Krasny Liman early on Thursday [AP]

The same day, three former Presidents, Leonid Kravchuk, Leonid Kuchma, and Viktor Yushchenko, sent letters to Ukraine's new President Petro Poroshenko to propose measures to bring the country out of the current crisis. In the letters, they expressed their support to Poroshenko’s stance about organizing an early parliamentary election this year. They also underscored the need to halt military confrontation in Donetsk and Lugansk provinces and set up essential conditions for citizens to resume a normal life. The three former Presidents asked the Ukrainian government to increase security along the eastern border to ensure national stability.