"The president of Ukraine (Petro Poroshenko) confirmed Friday that he will go to the final," a Brazilian presidency spokesman told AFP today.
A foreign ministry spokesman said the Ukrainian and Russian leaders would attend a lunch offered by President Dilma Rousseff before the Germany-Argentina final at Rio de Janeiro's Maracana Stadium.
Putin, whose country will host the 2018 World Cup, had confirmed his attendance weeks ago. He will also attend a summit of the BRICS group of emerging powers on Tuesday.
In late June, the Russian and Ukrainian leaders held telephone talks with Merkel and French President Francois Hollande in a bid to secure a truce between Kiev and pro-Russia separatists in the east of Ukraine.
Today, panicked Ukrainians flooded highways and packed trains leading out of the main remaining rebel stronghold, fearing a reprisal assault by government forces after they lost 30 servicemen to defiant militants.