A month of relative quiet in eastern Ukraine was shattered in early January by full-blown fighting as the separatists attempted to claw back additional territory from government hands.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in a telephone conversation, all expressed hope that negotiations in Minsk, Belarus, will focus on a cease-fire, the Kremlin said.
Ukraine’s envoy, Leonid Kuchma, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying that the talks derailed after the rebel representatives “refused to discuss steps to bring a complete cease-fire and the withdrawal of heavy weaponry.”
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Source: San Francisco Chronicle
