Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he hoped a new agreement on implementing a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine would be reached soon.



A ceasefire has been in place since 5 September in eastern Ukraine but it has been violated frequently.

Mr Putin told reporters that Russia, which annexed the Crimea peninsula in March, supported the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

The French president stopped in the Russian capital on the way back home from a visit to Kazakhstan.

He is the first western leader to visit Russia since the beginning of the crisis.

The European Union and the United States have imposed sanctions on Russia over the conflict that has seen Moscow annex Ukraine's Crimea peninsula and some 4,300 people die as a result of fighting between Kiev government troops and pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Because of the tensions, France has been forced to delay delivery of two Mistral-class helicopter carriers that it was building for Russia in a 1.2 billion euro contract.

Paris faces hefty fines if it breaches the contract with Russia, but risks the wrath of its allies around the world if it delivers the hot-button technology to Moscow with the Ukraine crisis still raging.

With a flat-lining economy France could find itself saddled with two massive warships equipped with Russian technology that it cannot sell to another client and no money to show for it.

Meanwhile Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said today that his envoy would attend a crucial round of peace talks with pro-Russian rebels in Minsk next week.

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