New Ukraine peace initiative: Merkel, Hollande to travel to Kyiv, Moscow

As violence escalates in Ukraine, German Chancellor Merkel and French President Hollande have said they will travel to Kyiv and then Moscow to present a new initiative for peace in Ukraine.

French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a trip to Kyiv on Thursday to present a solution to the conflict raging in eastern Ukraine, Hollande told reporters.

"We must find a solution that will be accepted by all sides; therefore, we fly today to Kyiv," Hollande told journalists at a semi-annual press conference, adding that a volley of sanctions against Moscow had failed to stop hostilities.

"We will propose a new solution to the conflict based on the territorial integrity of Ukraine. We will discuss it with President Poroshenko today and on Friday in Moscow with the Russian president," the French president told the press.

Merkel's office also confirmed her trip to Kyiv later on Thursday. "In view of the escalating conflict in recent days, the chancellor and President Hollande are intensifying their efforts, which have been going on for months, for a peaceful settlement to the conflict in eastern Ukraine," the chancellor's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said in a statement.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini called the French-German mission a clear effort to find a political solution to the Ukraine crisis.

"The European Union supports all the initiatives aimed at bringing political solution to the ongoing conflict in Eastern Ukraine," she said. "The European Union is united in using all the means available to push for a political solution, by applying pressure as well as continuing dialogue."

The US secretary of state, John Kerry, is also in Kyiv at present, discussing options to put an end to the standoff between Kyiv's army and pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Washington has been ambiguous about providing military aid to Ukraine, however, with its top leaders including Vice President Joe Biden emphasizing that the US had "no interest in a military escalation."

Fighting in eastern Ukraine since last April has claimed nearly 5,400 lives, the UN says. More than 200 people have been killed in the past three weeks alone.