The leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine began peace talks in Belarus yesterday, while in Ukraine pro-Moscow separatists tightened the pressure on Kiev by launching some of the war’s worst fighting.

The Kiev army said 19 soldiers were killed in a day of pro-Russian separatist assaults near Debaltseve, some of the worst losses it has reported in nine months of war.

Rebels who tore up a five-month-old truce in January are trying to encircle government forces in Debaltseve, a strategic location that would let them link up their main strongholds.

Washington is openly talking of arming Ukraine to defend itself from “Russian aggression”.

The summit is being held under a Franco-German proposal to try to halt the fighting. Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Francois Hollande began talks with Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

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