Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday that Ukraine must stop its military operation in southeastern regions of the country as part of efforts to defuse the crisis, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
In a telephone conversation with Kerry, Lavrov also urged the United States to use its influence to secure the release of what the Russian ministry called leaders of the "protest movement" in southeastern Ukraine - a reference to pro-Russian separatists.
On another note, Russian military aircraft repeatedly crossed over into Ukraine's airspace overnight, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on a visit to the Italian capital.
"Russian military aircraft today at night crossed and violated Ukrainian airspace seven times. The only reason is to provoke Ukraine ... and to accuse Ukraine of waging war against Russia," Yatseniuk, who was speaking English, told reporters in Rome.
OSCE
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Saturday welcomed an offer of support from his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, to help efforts to free Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) monitors held in eastern Ukraine.
Steinmeier told reporters that Lavrov had offered his backing during a telephone call earlier in the day.
"I very much welcome the fact that all three promised their help," said Steinmeier, adding he had spoken to Lavrov, Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk and Switzerland's Didier Burkhalter, who currently chairs the OSCE.
Steinmeier said he had sought help from all three.
For his part, a German government source said OSCE has dispatched a negotiating team to try to secure the release of observers being held by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
"A negotiating team from the OSCE is on the way to the region," said the source, declining to give further details, including exactly where they were heading.
This as Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka called for an immediate release of a group of international observers detained by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
"The Czech Republic condemns the detention of international observers...calls for their immediate release," Sobotka said in a statement.
The German-led monitoring mission, made up of eight international observers including a Czech national, was detained in the city of Slaviansk on Friday.
In the same regard, Ukraine's state security service said one of the international observers being held by pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slaviansk needs urgent medical care.
"Among those detained is a person who needs immediate medical help." The statement said Ukrainian security services were ready to provide medical assistance, but the separatists had rejected this offer.
"The terrorists plan to use the hostages as a human shield," the statement said.
It said the detention of the observers was planned and coordinated by a Russian citizen who Kiev says is a Russian special service operative. Russia denies that it has any of its troops or agents in eastern Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russia said it was doing what it could to resolve the situation involving the detention of military observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe by pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine.
EU
Senior EU diplomats have agreed to hold emergency talks in Brussels on Monday to discuss the deterioration on the ground in Ukraine and extra sanctions on Russia, EU sources said on Saturday.
Three sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a meeting was expected to take place around midday on Monday.
G7
The leaders of the Group of Seven major economies agreed on Saturday to move swiftly to impose further sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis, and the United States could unveil its new punitive measures as early as Monday, officials said.
A senior US official said each G7 country would decide which targeted sanctions to implement and while the measures would be coordinated they would not necessarily be identical.
The new sanctions are intended to punish Russia for failing to comply with an international agreement to help defuse the Ukraine crisis, according to a statement from G7 leaders released by the White House while President Barack Obama was on a visit to South Korea.
The statement did not specify what new measures would be slapped on Moscow but it warned that "we continue to prepare to move to broader, coordinated sanctions, including sectoral measures should circumstances warrant."
At the same time, the leaders told Russia that "the door remains open to a diplomatic resolution of this crisis" and urged, on the basis of the Geneva accord. We urge Russia to join us in committing to that path.
REUTERS