Vice President Joe Biden spoke today with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The Vice President welcomed the Rada’s adoption of implementing measures relating to the law on special status for certain areas of eastern Ukraine, as called for in the September 2014 and February 2015 Minsk agreements. The two leaders discussed the upcoming multinational training program for Ukraine’s National Guard forces, which the United States will support.  Finally, the two leaders agreed that sanctions on Russia imposed in response to its actions in eastern Ukraine should be tied to full implementation of the Minsk agreements, and that as long as Russia continues to fuel violence and instability in Ukraine, the international community must be prepared to increase the costs to Russia for pursuing such actions.