In a new push for peace in eastern Ukraine, the leaders of France and Germany announced Thursday they were heading to Kiev and Moscow with a proposal to end the fighting. The surprise move came as the U.S. edged toward offering Ukraine lethal military aid, reports the Chicago Tribune.
The flurry of high-level diplomacy aimed to end the resurgent fighting in eastern Ukraine that is threatening European security. France and Germany hoped this time they could come up with a peace deal that both Ukraine and Russia could agree to.
Secretary of state John Kerry was already visiting Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, and in Brussels, NATO prepared to boost its forces Thursday in response to Ukraine's unrest and Russia's increased military forcefulness.
Fighting between Russia-backed separatists and government forces picked up in January after a month of relative calm, with more than 220 civilians killed in the past three weeks alone, according to the United Nations. The U.N. has sharply criticized both sides for indiscriminate shelling and called for a temporary truce.
At least three people were killed in overnight shelling in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk, local officials said Thursday, amid fierce fighting in several areas of eastern Ukraine.
French President François Hollande said he and German chancellor Angela Merkel would travel to Kiev on Thursday and then to Moscow the following day, with a proposal "based on the territorial integrity of Ukraine." In a sign of the importance of the initiative, this will be Merkel's first trip to Moscow since Ukraine's conflict broke out a year ago.
"It will not be said that France and Germany together have not tried everything, undertaken everything, to preserve the peace," Hollande said.