US sanctions to stay until Russia quits eastern Ukraine: White House

Washington: US sanctions on Russia will remain in place until Moscow withdraws from eastern Ukraine, a White House spokesman said on Tuesday.

"It`s part of the reason there are sanctions, because until they are out of eastern Ukraine, we`re going to continue to have sanctions on Russia, and we believe that is part of Ukraine, and so therefore those sanctions will remain," White House spokesman Sean Spicer told a regular press briefing.

President Donald Trump met earlier on Tuesday with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in talks that the White House said were about ways to resolve peacefully the conflict in eastern Ukraine.