Here's an item from our news desk:
German, French, Ukrainian, Russian Deputy Foreign Ministers To Meet On May 30
Deputy foreign ministers from Germany, France, Ukraine, and Russia are to meet in Berlin on May 30.
A German government spokesman announced the planned meeting, part of a four-way process known as the Normandy Format, on May 29.
Germany and France have been seeking to help end the war between Russia-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces that has killed more than 9,900 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014.
The EU powerhouses brokered a February 2015 cease-fire and peace deal known as Minsk 2, but the conflict persists and progress on political aspects of the pact has been slow.
The purpose of the meeting "is to review the current situation on the ground with regard to the cease-fire and with regard to all other commitments under the Minsk agreements," German government spokesman Martin Schaefer told a regular news conference.
The planned meeting comes a day after talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron at Versailles Palace on May 29.
The EU and United States have imposed sanctions on Russia over its actions in eastern Ukraine, where Kyiv and NATO say Moscow fomented unrest in 2014 and has given strong military backing to separatists who hold parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces.