France, Germany leaders visit Ukraine

The leaders of France and Germany were carrying a new peace initiative to the Ukrainian and Russian capitals on Thursday, amid a flurry of high-level diplomacy to end what French President Francois Hollande called a war on Europe’s edge.
“It will not be said that France and Germany together have not tried everything, undertaken everything to preserve the peace,” Mr. Hollande said.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is also in Ukraine, to show support for the government amid a fast-moving flurry of international diplomacy.
“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,” Angela Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said in a statement.