German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned on Sunday that conditions in Ukraine once again threatened to tip Europe into a full-blown military conflict.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called on Russia and Ukraine to set in motion the next phase of the shaky Minsk peace accords aimed at stopping the fighting in east Ukraine, ahead of talks about their implementation in Berlin on Monday.
At the EU Summit in Brussels on Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her French counterpart, Francois Hollande, secured support for an extension of sanctions to the end of the year.
US President Barack Obama, Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European leaders confirmed on Tuesday that sanctions against Russia would not be lifted until ceasefire conditions in Ukraine were met.
President Barack Obama will hold a secure video conference with European leaders to discuss the crisis in Ukraine on Tuesday, as Russia faces possible further sanctions for its role in the conflict.
French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for the "Minsk II" ceasefire deal in Ukraine to be "fully respected" after meeting in Paris on Friday.
Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke with President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Petro Poroschenko of Ukraine on Monday evening, agreeing on how observers could be used to maintain the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine.
UPDATE: Chancellor Merkel, along with the Presidents of France, Russia and Ukraine, issued a statement confirming that a ceasefire agreement for eastern Ukraine had been reached in Minsk.
