Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said yesterday he expected planned talks with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin next week in Italy to be difficult but said Moscow had a crucial role to play in bringing peace to his country.

Kiev and its Western backers accuse Moscow of backing a pro-Russian separatist revolt in eastern Ukraine by providing troops and arms. Russia denies the charges but says it has a right to defend the interests of the region’s Russian-speaking majority.

The Kremlin has said Putin and Poroshenko may hold talks on the sidelines of a summit of Asian and European leaders in Milan on October 16-17.

“I don’t expect the talks will be easy. I’m used to this, I have a lot of experience of conducting very difficult diplomatic talks. But I’m an optimist,” Interfax Ukraine news agency quoted Poroshenko as telling reporters.

Poroshenko said some European leaders might also join his talks with Putin. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov has said a “Normandy-style meeting” could not be ruled out – a reference to talks in France in June involving Putin, Poroshenko and the leaders of Germany and France.

“The key and main question is peace. Russia’s role in the issue of providing peace, as you understand, is difficult to overestimate,” Poroshenko said. “And today we raise the issue of moving from declarations to concrete steps.”

Putin and Poroshenko are known so far to have met twice since the Ukrainian leader’s election in May, firstly in Normandy and then in the Belarussian capital Minsk in August when they agreed on the need for a ceasefire between Kiev’s forces and the pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.