Kerry urges diplomacy in Ukraine

Speaking to reporters following a meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv on Thursday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Russian aggression in Ukraine's east was the biggest problem facing the country.

"We want a diplomatic solution but we cannot close our eyes to tanks that are crossing the border from Russia and coming into Ukraine. We cannot close our eyes to Russian fighters in unmarked uniforms crossing the border, and leading individual companies of so-called separatists in battle," Kerry said.

His visit followed reports that the US was considering supplying weapons to Ukraine's military for its battle against the pro-Russia separatists in the country's east. Many European leaders are opposed to supplying weapons to Ukraine.

"Delivering weapons in this situation is the wrong path," German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday, as fierce fighting raged around the town of Debaltseve, between the separatist stronghold cities of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Security threat

Russia has said it would see any decision by the US to arm Kyiv's forces as a security threat. Kerry himself seemed to pour cold water on the idea, at least for now, while demanding that Russia honor the Minsk agreement. That agreement has unraveled in recent weeks as a shaky ceasefire collapsed into all-out fighting which, according to the UN, has claimed about 220 lives in the past three weeks alone.

"We are not seeking a confrontation with Russia. No one is. Not Poroshenko, not the United States, not the European community," Kerry said. "We are very hopeful that Russia will take advantage of our broad-based, uniform acceptance of the notion that there is a diplomatic solution staring everybody in the face. That is what we want," he said, referring to the September pact which includes a ceasefire, moving back heavy military equipment and beginning to work through the issues between the pro-Russia separatists and Kyiv.

During Kerry's visit, the US supplied humanitarian aid worth $16.4 million (14.3 million euros) to Kyiv.

German, French leaders to make surprise visit

Kerry's plea came as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande announced a surprise visit to Kyiv on Thursday and then Moscow on Friday, to push a proposal the two had been working on to solve the conflict "based on Ukraine's territorial integrity."

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

Russian news agencies reported Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, as saying the leaders would discuss "what the three nations can do to help put a quick end to a civil war in southeastern Ukraine, which has exacerbated in recent days with mounting casualties."

Russia has repeatedly denied that Moscow supports the separatists with troops and weapons.

In an interview with German newspaper Die Welt published on Thursday, Poroshenko called for NATO to provide weapons to Kyiv's forces. Ukraine is not a member of NATO. The political and military alliance was due to agree on a major boost to its defenses near its members' borders with Russia at a meeting of defense ministers held Thursday in Brussels.

se/kms (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)