Europe on Monday postponed sanctions against Moscow ahead of a Ukraine peace summit as US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel weighed options to end 10 months of bloodshed.
Merkel was in Washington as cracks between Europe and the United States seemed to emerge over the White House’s mulling of sending arms to Ukraine, an idea flatly rejected by the German leader.
Officials from Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France, meanwhile, were hammering out the details for a four-way summit Wednesday on a European-brokered peace plan billed as a last chance to defuse the escalating conflict.
Ahead of the possible summit in Minsk, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the EU would hold off implementing new sanctions to improve the chances of halting fightng that has killed some 5,400 people.
“The latest peace initiative shows that things have begun to move,” Fabius said in Brussels.
EU foreign ministers had been set to formally sign off on adding 19 more people to a sanctions list over Moscow’s alleged backing of pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that a “number of points” still needed to be hammered out before the Minsk meeting can take place and wrangling was set to be intense as foreign ministry officials from the four nations met in Berlin.
Based on a largely ignored peace deal agreed in September in Minsk, the new plan may extend rebel control over territory they have seized in recent weeks, although Kiev is adamant the demarcation line agreed in September should not be shifted.
French President Francois Hollande has said the proposal includes the creation of a 50- 70-kilometre (31-44-mile) demilitarised zone around the current frontline.
German foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said the Minsk talks’ goal would be “a ceasefire to end the bloodshed and thus create space and time for political talks”.
The issues on the table include questions about levels of regional autonomy and future elections in rebel-controlled areas, Schaefer said.
Russian troops ‘enter Ukraine’:
Fresh fighting over the past 24 hours between government forces and pro-Russian rebels left at least 11 civilians and nine Ukrainian troops dead, Kiev said.
Ukraine’s military said that 1,500 Russian troops and convoys of military hardware had crossed into the country over the weekend.