Europe Tells Putin, Pull out rebels

Kiev: Germany’s Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande of France warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that Moscow could be hit with sanctions within days unless he forced Ukrainian rebels to suspend their deadly uprising. The leaders made their case to Mr Putin in a call that stretched for more than two hours and included Ukraine’s pro-Western leader Petro Poroshenko.

The new Ukrainian President’s office said the four agreed to speak again on Monday when a truce is set to expire with no end to 13 weeks of fighting in sight.

The second such teleconference in four days was arranged in Brussels on Friday when Mr Poroshenko put his name to a historic trade deal with Europe that broke Kiev’s extended bonds with Moscow.