German Chancellor Angela Merkel

French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will travel to a Ukraine peace summit in Minsk on Wednesday to "try everything right to the end," the French presidency said.
      

NATO was set Feb. 5 to agree a major boost to its defences including six bases in eastern Europe and a spearhead force of 5,000 troops in response to what it called Russian aggression in Ukraine.
      

French President Francois Hollande said Feb. 5 he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel would visit Kyiv and Moscow in a fresh push for peace in Ukraine, but warned diplomacy "cannot go on indefinitely".