Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko says Russia accepts the principles of a peace plan for Ukraine.
The comment comes as Poroshenko met up with the EU foreign policy chief after talks with Russian President Vladimir over the crisis in Ukraine.
"I can say that the logic of this peace plan was finally supported by all of the heads of state, without exclusion. We insisted that, first of all, it is necessary to reach an agreement to ensure the freedom of Ukrainian citizens illegally detained by armed groups. We achieved an agreement to organize a tripartite contact group immediately."
Poroshenko also says Ukraine and Russia will have further consultations on closing the Ukrainian border to armored vehicles.
However, the meetings do not provide a breakthrough to end the fighting between government troops and rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Putin says Russia will do everything for a political settlement of the crisis, but it is up to Kiev to agree terms for a ceasefire with the rebels.
"We, Russia, we can't talk about any conditions for the ceasefire, about possible agreements between Kiev, Donetsk and Luhansk. It is not a matter for us, it is Ukraine's internal matter. We can only contribute to the creation of the atmosphere of trust during that possible negotiation process which I believe is very necessary."
Ukraine and other countries have accused Russia of supplying the rebels with weapons, a claim Russia denied.
Earlier, Ukrainian authorities claimed they had captured ten "Russian soldiers" in the Donetsk region, saying they crossed into Ukrainian territory on a "special mission".
Russian Defense officials are suggesting the captured soldiers were involved in patrolling the border area, claiming they most likely crossed the border by accident.
