Hollande again speaks with Merkel and Putin on Ukraine crisis

French President Francois Hollande on Thursday held a three-way telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin to seek a way to halt the violent crisis in Ukraine, Hollande's office said.
The conversation follows intensive meetings at Foreign Minister level between the three nations and Ukraine in Berlin on Wednesday.
The three major leaders today "underlined the importance of implementing the agreement reached in Berlin yesterday between the French, German, Ukrainian and Russian Foreign Ministers to try to obtain a bilateral ceasefire" between pro-Russian militants and Ukrainian government troops in eastern Ukraine.
Hollande and Merkel urged Putin on Thursday to agree to a Contact Group meeting on Ukraine before July 5 "in order to define the conditions of the cease-fire," the Elysee Palace indicated.
They also called on Putin to intervene with the separatists to bring them to negotiations and to an eventual agreement with the Ukrainian authorities in Kiev.
France and Germany gave full backing to the Berlin agreement reached on Wednesday and the proposal to use the Organisation for Security Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to control the volatile border between Russia and Ukraine.
Paris and Berlin said they were willing to help facilitate the application of a border agreement under OSCE supervision.
A call was also issued to free all hostages and Hollande and Merkel have scheduled a phone call with Ukrainian President Petro Porochenko in the coming hours.