French, German leaders take Ukraine peace plan to capitals

KIEV, Ukraine – Carrying a peace plan that reportedly incorporates proposals from Russia, the leaders of Germany and France met Thursday with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in a hastily arranged mission to bring an end to the accelerated fighting in the east of the country.

The trip by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, who will follow by meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin today in Moscow, came as concerns rose about whether the U.S. would grant lethal aid to Ukraine and as NATO formed a quick-reaction force of 5,000 soldiers in response to Russia’s increased military muscle-flexing.

The meeting with Poroshenko ended late Thursday and Hollande and Merkel left the presidential offices without comment. Details of their plan remained unclear, although Poroshenko said at the start of the meeting that it raised hopes for calling a quick cease-fire.

Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said on Twitter that the leaders discussed “steps so that the Minsk agreement can start working.” That refers to a pact reached in September that called for a cease-fire, the pullback of heavy weaponry by both sides, international monitoring of the Ukraine-Russia border and a degree of autonomy for the east.

The high-level diplomacy came as resurgent fighting killed eight more people in eastern Ukraine and fueled fears the conflict is threatening Europe’s overall security. More than 5,300 people have been killed since the fighting started in April.

The fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russia-backed separatist rebels and Ukrainian forces has intensified sharply over the past two weeks. Russia vehemently denies that it is providing equipment or troops for the insurgents, but U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry sharply rejected that denial.

“Let there be no doubt about who is blocking the prospects for peace here,” Kerry said in Kiev, where he met with Poroshenko hours before the German and French leaders.

In Moscow, Putin’s aide welcomed the new European initiative and said the Kremlin was ready for a constructive discussion. NATO defense ministers in Brussels, however, boosted the alliance’s rapid response forces because of the fighting in Ukraine and Russia’s military muscle-flexing.

The top NATO commander, U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, said Thursday that Russia continues to supply the separatists with heavy, state-of-the-art weapons, air defenses and fighters.

In comments to reporters after the talks with Poroshenko, Kerry urged Russia to show its commitment to a peaceful, diplomatic solution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine by ceasing its military support for the separatists and bringing them to the negotiation table.

“Our choice is diplomacy,” Kerry said, making no mention of providing Ukraine with lethal military aid.

At a later news conference with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Kerry said President Barack Obama “is reviewing all his options; among those options obviously is the possibility of providing defensive systems to Ukraine.”

Nonetheless, U.S. lethal aid to Ukraine would likely intensify the conflict and further polarize the West and Russia.

France and Germany were hoping this time they can come up with a peace deal that both Ukraine and Russia can agree upon. In a sign of the importance of the initiative, this will be Merkel’s first trip to Moscow since Ukraine’s conflict broke out last year.

“It will not be said that France and Germany together have not tried everything, undertaken everything, to preserve the peace,” Hollande said earlier.

The French leader didn’t mention the U.S., saying the two European nations and Russia have special historic, cultural and economic ties.

Kerry, however, sought to cast the new European initiative as part of unified Western efforts to support Ukraine.

He said the visit to Kiev by Merkel and Hollande “underscores that, together, the United States, France, Germany and the rest of our international partners stand united with Ukraine in calling on Russia to take the steps that I just outlined.”

In Moscow, Putin adviser Yuri Ushakov said Russia was “ready for a constructive conversation” aimed at stabilizing the situation, establishing a dialogue between the Ukrainian government and the rebels and rebuilding economic ties between eastern Ukraine and Kiev.

Western diplomats said Putin gave the French and Germans a nine-page peace plan, and that Hollande and Merkel were taking a repackaged version of that with them. The diplomats said the European version drops the most objectionable elements of the Russian plan to fit what Ukraine and the Europeans want, such as some autonomy for eastern Ukraine with special protections for language, culture and local taxes.

Germany and other European nations remain fiercely opposed to sending arms to Ukraine. Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief, backed the French-German peace effort, saying “there is no military solution to the crisis in Ukraine.”

Breedlove, the top NATO commander, warned Thursday that any move to give Ukraine lethal defensive weapons “could trigger a more strident reaction from Russia.”

Hollande appeared to offer an olive branch Thursday to Putin on the Russian leader’s key demand: that Ukraine stay out of NATO.

“France is not favorable to Ukraine’s entry into NATO, let us be clear,” he said.