Leaders plan four-way summit to stem fighting in Ukraine
After 'intensive' talks, leaders set four-way meeting in Minsk on Wednesday in an effort to bring an end to conflict in eastern Ukraine
The leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine aim to hold a summit in Minsk this week as they try to stem fighting in eastern Ukraine.
The plan for a meeting on Wednesday in the Belarusian capital emerged yesterday from a phone call between German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, described the call as "intensive".
The aim is to draw up a package of measures that breathes new life into a much-violated September peace plan. Seibert and the French government said preparations for the summit would take place today in Berlin.
"They [the leaders] expect their efforts during the Minsk meeting will lead to the swift and unconditional cessation of fire by both sides," Poroshenko's office said.
Putin also confirmed that a summit was being planned for Wednesday in Minsk, but said it might not come about.
"We will be aiming for Wednesday, if by that time we are able to agree on a number of the positions that we recently have been discussing intensely," he said in Sochi during a meeting with the president of Belarus, Russian news agencies reported.