EU foreign ministers to discuss Syria, Ukraine

European Union foreign ministers gathered in Brussels to discuss strategies to deal with militants of the "Islamic State" (IS) in Syria and freeze fighting in its northern city, Aleppo. EU High Representative for for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini said she hoped for "concrete" ways to help the war-torn country.

On Sunday, EU foreign ministers informally met Staffan de Mistura, UN's special envoy to Syria, to discuss possible ways to deescalate violence and allow aid agencies to deliver relief. The foreign ministers also debated on how they could set the stage for peace talks.

Member states of the 28-member strong European Union are also planning to meet Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk under the flagship of the EU-Ukraine Association Council. The move is being seen as a new step in the bloc's relationship with the former region of the Soviet Union, whose struggles to keep separatists in the east at bay have strained ties with Russia.

Earlier on Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande spoke to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko over the telephone, warning that Ukraine needed to urgently implement economic reforms so that it could apply for international aid and prevent default.

EU representative Mogherini is to travel to Kyiv on Tuesday for talks with President Poroshenko, before attending an EU summit on Thurday to discuss strategies on the Ukraine crisis, which has killed more than 4,600 people since it began in March this year. More than a million have fled their homes in eastern Ukraine, which has been taken over by pro-Russian rebels.

mg/es (dpa, Reuters)