Merkel in Kyiv

German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, on Saturday for a trip of only a few hours, during which she will hold talks with her Ukrainian counterpart, Petro Poroshenko, on the crisis in east Ukraine.

She is also expected to meet with Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and mayors from across the country, including the Donetsk region, where a pro-Moscow insurgency is raging.

It is only the second visit by Merkel to Kyiv, and her first since the insurgency.

At the talks, she is expected to reaffirm her solidarity with the government in Kyiv and Germany's commitment to finding a political solution to the conflict with Russia.

Germany has so far been spearheading efforts to resolve the crisis in Ukraine, with Berlin hosting talks last Sunday between the foreign ministers of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France. Merkel has also consistently sought dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin and UkrainianPresident Petro Poroshenko, both personally and in frequent phone calls.

The Ukrainian President has also visited Berlin twice, both before and after coming to power following the May elections.

The Chancellor's visit comes on the eve of Ukrainian Independence Day, giving it added symbolic significance.

Western pressure

Merkel has regularly put pressure on Putin to use his influence on the separatists to bring about an end to more than four months of fighting, during which the rebels have taken over considerable amounts of territory in the east, declaring some regions as "people's republics."

Germany has also been a major force behind the imposition of economic sanctions on Moscow, which many in the West suspect of supplying the rebels with weapons.

However, Merkel is also expected to urge Poroshenko to moderate military operations against the separatists.

More than 2,000 people have died in fighting, according to United Nations' figures.

Convoy returns

The chancellor's visit comes a day after Russia drove an aid convoy into eastern Ukraine, prompting Ukrainian accusations of a direct invasion.

The 260 vehicles from the convoy are now returning to Russia, according to media reports.

Ukraine and Western countries said they suspected that the convoy could be used by Russia to smuggle supplies and reinforcements for rebel fighters.

Both Merkel and US President Barack Obama condemned Russia's actions in sending the convoy into Ukraine without governmental permission.

Russia has dismissed such allegations as absurd, and insisted that the convoy was carrying solely humanitarian aid for civilians affected by the fighting.

'Federal Ukraine only solution'

Merkel's vice chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, has meanwhile told a German newspaper that a federal Ukraine would be the only way to put an end to the conflict.

In an interview to appear on Sunday in the weekly Welt am Sonntag, Gabriel said federalism was "the only viable path."

"The territorial interity of Ukraine cannot be preserved unless a proposition is made to the majority Russian-speaking regions," he said.

tj/ksb (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)