As the ceasefire - declared on Saturday failed to hold in eastern Ukraine, French officials indicated Wednesday that President Francois Hollande will hold "emergency talks" with Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko tonight.
Government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said in a televised statement after the Cabinet Meeting that France hoped the ceasefire could be maintained and Paris would do all in its power "to keep the agreement alive." He said France does not consider the hard-won truce to be "dead," and there has been "some progress", although he acknowledged "some problems" with the fragile truce.
There has been fierce fighting around several urban areas, including the Debaltseve transport hub and in Luhansk, and Donetsk, especially around the airport.
Hollande and Merkel travelled last Feb 12 to Kiev and Moscow to work for the truce and a withdrawal of heavy weapons from the conflict zone, in addition to deploying OSCE observers for a large buffer zone between the Ukrainian military and the pro-Russian separatists.