Moldovan president arrives in Kiev for talks with Yushchenko

Vladimir Voronin arrived in Kiev on Wednesday for talks with Viktor Yushchenko on Ukraine's efforts to settle the conflict over the breakaway republic of Trans-Dniester.

President Yushchenko, who is seeking a bigger regional role for Ukraine, proposed a seven-point peace plan in May that envisions granting broad autonomy to Trans-Dniester but keeping it within Moldova's borders.

Moldovan President Voronin and Yushchenko planned to hold talks in the Ukrainian capital's ornate Marinskiy Palace.

Yushchenko's plan for the region calls for holding internationally monitored elections to the Trans-Dniester parliament and transforming Russia's 1,500-strong peacekeeping operation there into an international observer mission.

Trans-Dniester broke away from Moldova, a former Soviet republic, in 1992 after a war that killed more than 1,500 people. The mostly Slavic, Russian-speaking region is not recognized internationally. Many ethnic Ukrainians live there.

As part of Yushchenko's efforts, a meeting is planned for later this month in the Ukrainian city of Odessa between officials from Moldova and the separatist region.

"We shall determine the steps to be taken at the meeting to bring about a breakthrough," Voronin was quoted as saying in the Moldovan capital Chisinau by Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency, reports the AP.