Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Monday it was impossible to win the conflict in the east by force alone.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Monday it was impossible to win the conflict in the east by force alone.

"It is impossible to win the conflict just by military means," he said on a visit to the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, where sporadic fighting has flared between government forces and pro-Russian rebels despite a ceasefire.