World Leaders Agree to Extend Efforts to End Ukraine Conflict

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/31/world/europe/world-leaders-agree-to-extend-efforts-to-end-ukraine-conflict.html

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MOSCOW — The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany agreed Wednesday to extend efforts to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine, acknowledging that the terms of a complex cease-fire agreement will not be fully carried out by the Dec. 31 deadline.

In a conference call, Presidents Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine, François Hollande of France, and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany called for the Minsk peace agreement, which was signed in February, to be carried out in full in 2016 and agreed to focus on holding local elections in separatist regions of eastern Ukraine as a step toward that goal, according to a statement on the Kremlin’s website.