Ukraine's leader says France, Germany too soft on Russia

Ukraine's leader says that France and Germany have recently softened their stance in talks with Moscow on settling a conflict with Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine -- Ukraine's leader said Thursday that France and Germany have recently softened their stance in talks with Moscow on settling a conflict with Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also told a news conference that his office has reached out to the Kremlin to prepare a meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The two ex-Soviet neighbors have been locked in a tense tug-of-war ever since Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 following the ouster of the country’s former Moscow-friendly president and threw its weight behind separatist rebels in Ukraine’s east. More than 14,000 people have died in seven years of fighting in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland called Donbas.