French President Francois Hollande talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel while taking part in a Unity rally in Paris on Jan. 11.(Photo: Philippe Wojazer, AFP/Getty Images)
French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will travel to Ukraine with a new peace initiative Thursday.
Speaking at a news conference in Paris and describing the Ukrainian conflict as a war, Hollande said the two will go to Kiev and then head to Moscow on Friday with a proposal "based on the territorial integrity of Ukraine."
"Given the escalation of violence in the past days, the chancellor and President Hollande are intensifying their months-long efforts for a peaceful settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine," Steffen Seibert, Merkel's spokesman, said in a statement.
The development comes as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is visiting Ukraine on Thursday to meet with President Petro Poroshenko, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin and members of parliament to discuss the country's economy and the ongoing conflict.
"The secretary's visit will highlight the United States' steadfast support for Ukraine and its people," Department of State spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
The country's national government is reeling from a spike in defense spending and the loss of production and trade, particularly after Russian-backed separatists seized Ukraine's main industrial and coal-mining regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east of the country.
Fighting between 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.
Ukraine, the U.S., NATO and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have all accused Russia of supplying arms and equipment to the separatists. Russia wants the U.S. and the European Union to lift economic sanctions imposed to pressure it to stop meddling in Ukraine.
On Thursday, NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance is set to more than double the size of its Response Force in response to Russian aggression in Ukraine and the challenge of Islamic extremism. He said the meeting of defense ministers in Brussels on Thursday is expected to boost the size of the force from 13,000 to 30,000.
He said ministers should also approve details for establishment of a new ultrafast joint task force of about 5,000 troops. "Our decisions make clear that NATO is determined to defend all allies against any threats from any direction," he said.
Contributing: Oren Dorell, Associated Press
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