Ukraine peace summit overshadowed by some of war's worst fighting | "The mood in the west is gloomy despite the most intensive bout of diplomacy on the Ukraine crisis in a year, amid expectations that securing a deal that might stem the worsening bloodshed will entail making concessions to Putin." - Leaders due in Minsk for Ukraine peace talks as heavy fighting continues - The Guardian
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Network Front | The Guardian
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Leaders from Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany are due to hold last-ditch peace talks on Minsk aimed at trying to smooth the way for a summit deal leading to the demilitarisation of eastern Ukraine.
The leaders of the four countries are expected to meet in the Belarusian capital in an attempt to secure a ceasefire in the region, where intense fighting has taken place ahead of the talks.
The summit is the climax of a frantic diplomatic push by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the French president, François Hollande, to prevent the crisis from escalating further. Ten months of conflict has already claimed over 5,400 lives.
On Tuesday, Barack Obama spoke to Vladimir Putin, by telephone and sought to pressure him to rein in the rebels and embrace the chance for peace.
“If Russia continues its aggressive actions in Ukraine, including by sending troops, weapons, and financing to support the separatists, the costs for Russia will rise,” the White House said.
For the first time since October, the Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, is expected to come face-to-face with the Russian president – whom Kiev and its western allies accuse of masterminding the pro-Russia rebellion.
“Tomorrow’s meeting in Minsk is one of the last chances to declare an unconditional ceasefire and withdraw heavy artillery,” Poroshenko said in a statement on Tuesday.
A Ukranian military spokesman said on Wednesday that 19 soldiers had been killed and 78 wounded in rebel attacks near the key railway town of Debaltseve, which government troops are defending.
At least one person was also killed when a shell hit a bus station in the centre of rebel-controlled Donetsk city, Reuters reported a witness as saying.
On Tuesday, at least seven civilians were reported dead and 26 injured in an attack on the town of Kramatorsk, headquarters of Ukraine’s “anti-terrorism operation” and well inside Kiev-controlled territory, which was hit with rockets apparently fired from separatist positions.
The mood in the west is gloomy despite the most intensive bout of diplomacy on the Ukraine crisis in a year, amid expectations that securing a deal that might stem the worsening bloodshed will entail making concessions to Putin.
“No one is saying that the plan cannot be changed,” said a senior European diplomat briefed on the summit preparations. He referred to a previous accord reached in Minsk last September that was never observed.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will brief EU leaders at a summit in Brussels on Thursday, alongside the German and French leaders, on the results of Wednesday's Ukraine peace talks in Minsk, an EU official said.
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DONETSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - The leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine were due to attend a peace summit on Wednesday, but Ukraine's pro-Moscow separatists diminished the chance of a deal by launching some of the war's worst fighting in an assault on a government garrison.
Kiev said 19 of its soldiers were killed in a day of pro-Russian separatist assaults at a single location near the railway hub of Debaltseve, some of the worst losses it has reported in nine months of war.
Rebels who tore up a five-month-old truce in January are trying to encircle government forces in Debaltseve, a strategic location that would let them link up their main strongholds.
The summit is being held in neighboring Belarus under a Franco-German proposal to try to halt the fighting. Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Francois Hollande will meet Ukraine's Petro Poroshenko and Russia's Vladimir Putin.
Hopes for a breakthrough are slim, with European officials acknowledging that the advancing rebels are unlikely to agree to halt and go back to previous positions.
A surge in fighting in the 24 hours before the leaders were to gather, including a rocket attack that killed 11 people deep in government-held territory on Tuesday, could be intended to force Poroshenko to accept a deal recognizing the rebel advance.
Hours before the talks were due to start, officials still spoke of the possibility that the meeting would be called off.
"There are a number of problems which remain to be resolved ... but it is very likely to go ahead," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told France Inter radio. "It is really a last-chance negotiation."
Still, Moscow maintained its optimism. A Russian diplomatic source said it was 70 percent likely that an agreement would be reached.
"The presidents aren't traveling (to Minsk) for no reason," the source said.
Well over 5,000 people have been killed so far in a conflict in which Kiev accuses Russia of supplying separatists with men and weapons to further the break-up of Ukraine. Moscow denies it is involved in fighting for territory Putin calls "New Russia".
If the French and German leaders were hoping their peace initiative would be met by conciliatory moves on the ground, the prospect of talks appears to have triggered the opposite, with the pro-Russian rebels determined to drive home their advantage.
Armored columns of Russian-speaking soldiers with no insignia have been advancing for days around Debaltseve. Last week they captured the small town of Vuhlehirsk next to Debaltseve, and a reconnaissance unit was there on Tuesday salvaging equipment from abandoned Ukrainian trenches.
The squad's commander said his men did not want a truce while they had government forces on the run.
On the Russian side of the border, Moscow announced war games on Tuesday on the eve of the talks.
The United States has been openly discussing arming the Ukrainian government, a move that is opposed by European allies who say it would escalate the conflict while falling far short of giving Kiev the firepower needed to win.
President Barack Obama says he has yet to make up his mind on the question of sending weapons. He spoke by phone overnight to Putin, and the White House said he warned the Russian leader that the costs would rise if Moscow kept aiding the separatists...
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