NOVO-OGARYOVO, (Sputnik) — Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting Thursday with members of Russia's Security Council to discuss the increase in hostilities in eastern Ukraine ahead of his upcoming talks with European leaders in Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"The meeting discussed in detail the situation in eastern Ukraine, including in the context of tomorrow's contacts in Moscow with French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel," Peskov told reporters.
Hollande and Merkel will travel to Moscow on Friday for talks with the Russian president on new initiatives to settle the crisis in Ukraine.
Both European leaders are meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kiev on Thursday to discuss the issue.
The crisis in Ukraine became a violent armed confrontation in April 2014 when Kiev launched a military operation in Ukraine's southeast. The September ceasefire agreement, reached in Minsk, did not end hostilities, and the beginning of 2015 has seen the violence increase.
Earlier on Thursday, Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov said Kremlin hoped that any Ukrainian crisis settlement plan by the French and German leaders takes into account the Russian president's numerous suggestions on the issue.
