DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s new president-elect promised Monday to negotiate an end to a pro-Russia insurgency in the east and said he was willing to begin talks with Moscow. Yet he described the separatists as “Somali pirates” and authorities in Kiev launched an airstrike against the militants occupying a major eastern airport.

Russia quickly welcomed Petro Poroshenko’s offer for talks, raising hopes that his election will indeed ease the protracted crisis that has fueled tensions unseen since the end of the Cold War.