A new wave of violence in eastern Ukraine has prompted the leaders of France Germany and Ukraine to call a crisis meeting for Monday in Berlin. President Putin will not be attending.<br /><br /> All three have expressed concern over the flare up in fighting which undermines the peace agreement worked out in Minsk last February.<br /><br /> Earlier this week at least two Ukrainian soldiers and several civilians were killed in clashes between Kyiv’s forces and Russian-backed separatists .<br /><br /> Rebels have been accused of using heavy weapons including Grad rockets in attacks on government targets while Kyiv troops are said to have shelled civilian homes.<br /><br /> More than 6.500 people have been killed in the conflict which erupted in April 2014 after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula in reaction to the fall of a Moscow.backed president to mass protests in Kyiv.
