File Photo: French President Francois Hollande. (AFP)
French President Francois Hollande today offered to host talks on the situation in Ukraine with his German, Russian and Ukrainian counterparts, as a February truce finally appeared to be holding.
He told reporters the talks could take place in Paris before the United Nations' General Assembly opens at the end of September "so that we can evaluate the process."
The Western-brokered ceasefire between Kiev and pro-Russia separatists had been punctuated by deadly incidents on an almost daily basis, but Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Saturday that the truce had been respected last week for the first time.
He said soldiers were still perishing in the conflict zone in the east by stepping on landmines or in car crashes, but that none had died in battle, although pro-Russian rebels claimed a civilian had been killed.
Hollande said several commitments still had to be honoured, such as holding local elections and implementing reforms granting more autonomy to two breakaway pro-Russian areas in the east.
"If this process is successful, then I will ask for sanctions to be lifted," Hollande said, referring to penalties implemented by the European Union and United States on Russia for backing rebels in Ukraine.