KHARKIV, Ukraine: Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Saturday that he will meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin next week to discuss the six-month conflict between Kiev and pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.

“I will have a meeting with the President of Russia Vladimir Putin in Milan,” where a Europe-Asia Meeting summit will be held Oct. 16-17, Poroshenko said while on a visit to eastern city Kharkiv.

The talks will also include German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Premier Matteo Renzi, and British Prime Minister David Cameron along with the “leaders of the European Union,” Poroshenko said.

“You know, I don’t expect that these will be easy negotiations,” he added. “I’m used to it, I have large experience with complicated diplomatic talks. But I’m an optimist.”

Putin and Poroshenko last met in late August for talks that led to a truce accord between Kiev and the pro-Russian rebels in eastern regions of Lugansk and Donetsk, where Ukraine says Moscow is stirring a bloody rebellion.

Meanwhile local authorities confirmed that shelling in Ukraine’s rebel-held eastern regions killed five people on Saturday, in the latest deadly violations of a cease-fire.

“As a result of military actions in Donetsk on Oct. 10, three civilians died and four more were injured and hospitalized,” said the mayor’s office in Donetsk, the largest eastern city.

All but completely controlled by the pro-Russian separatists, Donetsk has come under increased crossfire in recent days as rebels and the Ukrainian army battle over its airport.