German FM calls on Ukraine and Russia to respect peace plan

Germany's foreign minister today called for Ukraine and Russia to fulfil the terms of a failing peace plan, despite admitting that the deal was not "perfect".
"The agreements were not perfect but they do form a basis. We have to fulfil the agreements," Frank-Walter Steinmeier said at a meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk in Kiev.
"We hope that the tension will subside and Ukraine will regain its territorial integrity and sovereignty," Berlin's top diplomat said.
Steinmeier will fly later today to Moscow for a key meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, as deadly clashes continued to rock east Ukraine despite a nominal ceasefire between the Kiev and Kremlin-backed rebels.

Yatsenyuk, however, lashed out at Kiev's former Soviet master by insisting that the September peace agreement "is being observed by Ukraine and blatantly violated by the Russian side."
"The restoration of control over the Ukrainian-Russian border, the stopping of weapons deliveries from the Russian Federation to Ukrainian territory, and the withdrawal of the Russian army and Russian terrorists from Ukrainian territory is not being carried out," he said.