Merkel, Hollande renew backing for ceasefire in eastern Ukraine

Paris (dpa) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande held telephone talks with the presidents of Russia and Ukraine in which they once again called for the removal of heavy weaponry from the frontline in eastern Ukraine.The four leaders, including Russia‘s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine‘s Petro Poroshenko, also discussed planned local elections in the separatist controlled region of Donbass, the Elysee Palace in Paris said Wednesday.The issues of weapons withdrawal and elections were two of the main points of the ceasefire plan struck earlier in 2015.By the beginning of February there is to be a meeting of the foreign ministers of the four countries to assess the progress in implementing the deal between the Russia-backed separatist rebels and the government in Kiev.The leaders also agreed Wednesday to support the working group that with the help of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is to determine arrangements for the elections by the end of January.Germany is to take over from Serbia as chair of the OSCE in 2016.