Germany rules out arming Kyiv, France pushes for demilitarized zone

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Feb. 7 ruled out sending weapons to the Ukrainian government to fight pro-Russian separatists but said there was no guarantee that her latest peace initiative with French President Francois Hollande would work either. 

Speaking at a Munich conference on Feb. 7 attended by top U.S., European, Ukrainian and Russian officials, Merkel said the Franco-German peace plan presented to Kyiv and Moscow this week was worth trying, but "it is uncertain if it will succeed". 

Hollande cast it as a last-ditch effort to end fighting in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 5,000 people. With Russia's earlier annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, the crisis has driven Moscow's relations with the West to new lows.  

Speaking on France 2 television, Hollande said the plan under negotiation would see a 50- to 70-kilometer (31- to 44-mile) demilitarized zone. He called for "rather strong" autonomy in the east.

"If we don't manage to find not just a compromise but a lasting peace agreement, we know perfectly well what the scenario will be. It has a name, it's called war," Hollande told reporters in the city of Tulle in central France. 

How to confront Russia's Putin

Debate at the high-profile Munich Security Conference focused on an emerging rift between America and Europe on over how to confront Putin as the Moscow-backed rebels gain territory. U.S. President Barack Obama is under pressure from some in Congress to provide Kyiv with lethal weapons. 

NATO's top military commander, U.S. Air Force general Philip Breedlove, gave the strongest signals yet in Munich that he now wants the Western allies to consider sending weapons to Ukraine. 

"I don't think we should preclude out...