EU backs Ukraine peace drive, hawks urge no easing of sanctions

A firefighter works to extinguish a fire at a residential block, which was damaged by a recent shelling according to locals, on the outskirts of Donetsk, eastern Ukraine February 9, 2015. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers lined up behind a Franco-German effort to end the Ukraine war on Monday but some said the EU must maintain sanctions on Russia until the situation in eastern Ukraine improved.

The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France have agreed to meet in Belarus on Wednesday to try to broker a peace deal for Ukraine amid escalating violence there.