President Petro Poroshenko dismissed Ukraine's third defence minister of the year Sunday in a surprise decision ahead of high-level talks with Moscow on bringing peace to the Western-backed former Soviet republic.

Poroshenko's official website said he would nominate a new defence chief on Monday after "accepting the resignation" of Valeriy Geletey.

But the sacking also highlighted a sense of failure that has enveloped the once-proud force as the six-month conflict with pro-Russian rebels drags on and the death toll from fighting approaches 3,400.

The military's performance has humiliated Ukrainians who had been celebrating the success of a bloody popular uprising that ousted the then Kremlin-backed leader in February and propelled Kiev on its westward course.

Geletey's removal threatened to undermine Poroshenko's position ahead of a crunch meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Milan on Friday, only the third time the two have met since Poroshenko came to power in May.

"I have no illusions. These will not be easy negotiations, but I am ready for them," Poroshenko told the nation in a television address.

"My goal (is to achieve) our country's unshakable independence, its territorial integrity, the inviolability of its borders, and the return of peace," he said.

Putin appeared to strengthen his hand with the order Saturday for 17,600 Russian troops deployed near Ukraine to return to their bases -- a decision analysts linked to his desire to see biting Western sanctions suspended or at least rolled back.

- Eastern bloodbath -

There had been speculation for days about Poroshenko's displeasure with Geletey's ability to organise a decisive assault on the insurgents since his appointment on July 3.

The respected Dzerkalo Tyzhnia weekly said Geletey's fate was sealed when he received a report on August 23 of an incursion by hundreds of Russian special forces and dozens of armoured vehicles into the eastern war zone, allegations that Moscow denies.

The newspaper quoted a military commander as saying that Geletey ignored the intelligence and instead took part in an Independence Day parade in central Kiev the next day.

The alleged Russian incursion was followed by a sweeping counter-offensive that saw separatist gunmen quickly seize back a chunk of the land they had lost in the preceeding weeks.

The militias also wiped out a Ukrainian unit of at least 100 soldiers near the town of Ilovaysk, a bloodbath that shocked the country and was followed by Poroshenko's decision to sign a Russian-backed peace pact with the rebel command.

The September 5 truce agreement was designed to create a buffer zone along the front line and grant the insurgents limited autonomy within Ukraine.

But neither side has pulled back their big guns or halted all fire.

Militias across the Russian-speaking rustbelt are still attacking Ukranian forces and the number of civilians killed daily by stray shells and rockets is nearing that seen at the height of the six-month war.

The still deadly fighting could damage Poroshenko's chances in October 26 parliamentary elections that feature a powerful group of parties opposing any negotiations with Moscow.

- Russian withdrawal -

The Kremlin says that Putin ordered back the soldiers from Ukraine's border simply because their scheduled summer training period had run its course.

But Moscow has repeatedly used its troop movements as a bargaining chip with the West over Ukraine's future in the past.

Analysts said the latest orders will be cited by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov when he tries to convince US Secretary of State John Kerry in Paris on Tuesday that the West's punitive measures were no longer justified.

The troop pullback may also be designed to splinter the united tough stand that Washington and Brussels forged on Russia after months of EU foot-dragging over sanctions.

Some European nations with close energy and financial ties to Russia blame the weakness of their economic recoveries on the trade war that Moscow launched in reprisal for the Western punitive steps.