Ukraine crisis: Putin, Poroshenko, Merkel and Hollande to meet in Minsk

Russian President Vladimir Putin will join the leaders of Ukraine, France and Germany in Minsk on Wednesday (February 11), in a fresh effort to broker a peace deal for Ukraine.

“We will aim to meet on Wednesday if by then we have managed to agree our positions, which we have been discussing very intensively in recent days,” confirmed Vladimir Putin.

The four-way meeting was agreed during a phone conversation on Sunday (February 8). Following the call, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he was hopeful the meeting in the Belarus capital would lead to “a swift and unconditional ceasefire.”

Two days earlier, talks in Moscow between German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President François Hollande and Putin had failed to produce a breakthrough in a conflict which has claimed over 5,000 lives.

Leaders agree four-way talks on Ukraine crisis in Minsk on Wednesday http://t.co/vG462Uxrz9— euronews (@euronews) February 8, 2015

A 12-point truce, signed between Kyiv and pro-Russi