Leaders from EU, Russia, Ukraine to meet in Paris in Oct

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will meet along with the French and German leaders in Paris early in October to discuss efforts to resolve the Ukrainian conflict, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.

It said that the leaders have agreed to meet in Paris on Oct 2. Before the summit, foreign ministers will discuss Ukrainian crisis in Berlin on Sept 12. The French president's office confirmed the meeting would take place.

The violence has mostly subsided since Sept 1, when the Ukrainian parliament backed giving more autonomy to rebel-held areas, in line with a peace deal.

"The leaders have welcomed the ceasefire, which has been holding, in south-east Ukraine," the Kremlin said after the phone talks.

A summit on Ukraine last took place in February in Minsk, where steps were agreed to stop the conflict.  

Fighting between Ukrainian government forces and the separatists in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions has killed almost 8,000 people since it burst out in mid-April 2014.