Kremlin: Putin not Confirmed for Ukraine Peace Summit

Russian President Vladimir Putin has not confirmed his attendance at a crunch peace summit on Ukraine proposed for January 15 in Kazakhstan, the Kremlin said Monday. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin's presence at the meeting -- which Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko hopes will see four-way talks with the leaders of France and Germany -- depends on the outcome of a gathering of foreign ministers in Berlin on Monday.   

"We are waiting for the results of the meeting in Berlin," Peskov told Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti. 

The fate of the crucial meeting in the Kazakh capital Astana has been thrown into doubt by an uptick in fighting around the east Ukraine rebel stronghold of Donetsk over recent days that Kiev has blamed on the Moscow-backed separatists. 

The peace conference was announced by Poroshenko at the end of December but none of the other participants has confirmed their participation. 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel informed Putin and Poroshenko over the weekend she would not fly to Central Asia to sign a deal that is valid only on paper and which does not end the fighting that has killed 4,700 since April last year.