(VOVworld) - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after meeting his Russian, Ukrainian and French counterparts in Berlin on Saturday that "significant progress" had been made towards a resolution of the conflict between Kiev and Moscow.

Foreign ministers (L-R) Sergei Lavrov of Russia, Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany, Pavlo Klimkin of Ukraine and Laurent Fabius of France (Photo: Reuters)

Steinmeier said Ukraine and Russia were close to striking an agreement on the withdrawal of weapons and facilitating the operation of observers of the Organization for Security and Co-operation. This meeting was also preparation for the next meeting between 4 countries in early October in Paris.

At a summit on Ukraine in February in Belarus, the participants agreed to put an end to conflicts. Violence reduced in eastern Ukraine after a cease fire came into effect on September 1 and Ukraine’s parliarment supported granting autonomous power to the opposition.