MOSCOW (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's President-elect Petro Poroshenko met on Friday and called for an end to bloodshed and violence on both sides, Mr Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"Putin and Poroshenko called for the soonest possible end to bloodshed in southeastern Ukraine, and to military operations on both sides - both by the Ukrainian armed forces and by supporters of the federalisation of Ukraine," Russian news agencies quoted Mr Peskov as saying.