FMs to Meet in Berlin for Ukraine Talks

BERLIN (AP) -- The foreign ministers of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France are meeting in Berlin to discuss the situation in eastern Ukraine.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said ahead of the talks Wednesday that a previous meeting, in Paris, had been unsatisfactory and he hoped the parties to the conflict would try to make progress in Berlin.

It is the tenth time that the four countries' top diplomats have met in what is known as the "Normandy format."

Steinmeier says the talks will focus on extending the cease-fire achieved during the Orthodox Easter celebrations and on preparing for local elections in the eastern Ukrainian region controlled by Russian-backed separatists.

More than 9,300 have died in fighting in eastern Ukraine in two years.

(KA)