The leaders of Russia, Germany and France plan to meet today to discuss a new peace plan for Ukraine, with a key issue expected to be the possible deployment of international peacekeepers to areas racked by a Moscow-backed insurgency.
Diplomats said Russian president Vladimir Putin had made new peace proposals to German chancellor Angela Merkel this week, and she and French president François Hollande flew to Kiev with their response to the Kremlin yesterday.
They discussed them with Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko last night – after he had held talks with visiting US secretary of state John Kerry.
Territorial integrity
“Together with Angela Merkel we have decided to take a new initiative . . . We will make a new proposal to solve the conflict which will be based on Ukraine’s territorial integrity,” Mr Hollande said. “For several days Angela Merkel and I have worked on a text . . . a text that can be acceptable to all. It will not be said that France and Germany together have not tried everything, undertaken everything, to preserve the peace. ” This was suggesting the bid was entirely European.
Mr Kerry, by contrast, said the new diplomacy drive "underscores that, together, the United States, France, Germany and the rest of our international partners stand united in calling on Russia" to de-escalate the conflict.
“We are not seeking a confrontation with Russia – no one is,” Mr Kerry said. “We are very hopeful that Russia will take advantage of our broad-based, uniform acceptance of the notion that there is a diplomatic solution staring everybody in the face. That is what we want.”
Moscow accuses Ukraine's new pro-western leaders of launching a bloody crackdown on eastern regions with close ties to Russia, and acting as puppets of a Washington that wants to weaken the Kremlin and oust Mr Putin.
Mr Poroshenko – who said Ukraine was facing “a very critical moment in our history” – accuses Russia of sending thousands of troops and weapons across its border to reinforce the insurgents.
More than 5,350 people have perished since last April, and more than one million have been displaced. Aid groups are warning of a humanitarian crisis due to indiscriminate shelling by both sides.
Constructive conversation
Mr Putin’s chief foreign policy adviser
Yuri Ushakov
said Russia was “ready for a constructive conversation” with the German and French leaders, aimed at stabilising eastern Ukraine, rebuilding its economy and establishing dialogue between the Ukrainian government and separatist chiefs.
Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashenko said the talks should "clarify" the question of possible deployment of peacekeepers, which was "being discussed at the level of experts".
Analysts fear Moscow wants to create a “frozen conflict” in eastern Ukraine.