Ukraine, French, German leaders in Minsk for peace summit
Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French leader Francois Hollande touched down in the Belarussian capital ahead of Putin's expected arrival, an AFP journalist at the scene said.
The quartet will hold a make-or-break summit to try to thrash out a peace plan to halt fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Moscow rebels that has cost at least 5,300 lives since April.
Kiev and the west accuse Putin of masterminding the bloody uprising and say the meeting is a last chance to prevent the broadening of the conflict.