Uncertainty in Ukraine: German leader not sure if peace talks will succeed

Angela Merkel, the Prime Minister of Germany, said Saturday that it’s still uncertain whether a flurry of democracy aimed at resolving the crisis in Ukraine will succeed, hours after a group of European leaders agreed to draw up a plan to end the deadly fighting in Ukraine. A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said that more than four hours of talks that wrapped up Saturday saw the leaders agree on the drafting of a blueprint that would also include proposals from Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko. No details of the plan were released, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters the talks had been “substantial and constructive.”

Work is under way to prepare the text of a possible joint document to implement the Minsk agreements.

Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesman

A French official said work was being done to pull together a document aimed at implementing the September truce. Putin, Merkel and Hollande, who did not address the media after the meeting, are to discuss the effort with Ukrainian President Poroshenko by telephone on Sunday. The European pair’s talks with the Russian strongman were seen an attempt to prevent the 10-month conflict in east Ukraine from spiraling out of control as the United States considers supplying weapons to Kiev.

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