Kiev  - Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek met with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Friday as part of an European Union diplomatic offensive to end a Russian natural gas embargo.

The Czech Republic holds the rotating presidency of the EU.

Yushchenko and Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, in a rare show of public solidarity, jointly met Toplanek at Kiev's Boryspil airport.

Yushchenko and Tymoshenko had, according to Ukrainian news reports, not been speaking for months as they feuded over division of powers in Ukraine's government, and responsibility for Ukraine's recent economic slowdown.

The pair made their first joint public statement in months only last week to denounce Russia's natural gas embargo on Ukraine.

Topolanek, Yushchenko, and Tymoshenko, during meetings in the late afternoon and early evening, discussed an EU observer mission sent to Ukraine to assist in resolving the stand-off over energy between Russia and Ukraine, and other energy-related issues.

Topolanek noted Ukraine had agreed to EU and Russian monitors on the ground in Ukraine, calling it "progress ... and a great step forward."

During the press conference, Yushchenko made little reference to the main sticking point in Russo-Ukrainian negotiations: the lack of a contract regulating gas transfers between the two countries. The last one became ineffective at the end of 2008.

But Tymoshenko referred to the problem obliquely, declaring she wanted Russia to deliver natural gas to Ukraine in the future without middleman companies - a position opposed by some powerful Ukrainian energy tycoons linked with the Yushchenko administration. dpa