BERLIN

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called on Russia to make “visible progress” towards fully implementing the Minsk ceasefire agreement, in order to facilitate a political solution to the crisis in eastern Ukraine.

Referring to preparations for a leaders' summit next week in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, Merkel said at a joint press conference with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk in Berlin on Thursday: "We have to first restore trust."

She said: "In the past there have been agreements on road maps to implement the elements of the Minsk agreement, but they have not been followed."

Merkel criticized Russia’s reluctance to put strong pressure onto pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

She confirmed that foreign ministers from Ukraine, Germany, France and Russia were holding talks on a possible leaders summit, but underlined it was not clear whether it would take place.

“Whether we would achieve progress to enable such a meeting to take place would only be clear after the talks in the coming days,” Merkel said.

- Cease-fire not respected

German Chancellor Merkel will meet Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev in Berlin on Friday, as part of talks on the proposed meeting.

Nazarbayev has recently stepped in to try and help find a political solution to the crisis and carried out extensive talks in Moscow and Kiev last month to host a summit in Astana on Jan.15 between Russian, Ukrainian, German and French leaders.

The Minsk agreement was signed in the capital of Belarus on Sept. 5 with the goal of seeking a sustainable cease-fire between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces. However it has not been respected.

At least 4,707 people have been killed and 10,322 wounded in the conflict between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine since mid-April, according to the UN.

Since the September ceasefire, 1,357 fatalities have been recorded.