By RFE/RL
Diplomatic efforts to defuse the conflict in eastern Ukraine continue on February 8.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin are due to confer with the leaders of Germany and France by phone.
German Chancellor Angela Merkela and French President Francois Hollande traveled to Kyiv on February 5 and Moscow on February 6 to push a new peace plan.
More than 5,350 people have been killed in eastern Ukraine in fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels since April 2014.
A spike in bloodshed recently has prompted Washington to consider arming Ukraine, a move opposed by some European leaders.
At a security conference in Munich on February 7, Merkel said sending weapons to Kyiv "will not lead to the progress Ukraine needs."
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, speaking at the same conference, said Washington stood ready to provide Ukraine with the means to defend itself, saying: "Too many times, President Putin has promised peace and delivered tanks, troops, and weapons."
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
A newspaper is citing German intelligence sources as saying the death toll in eastern Ukraine is almost 10 times higher than official figures.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported February 8 that an unnamed German intelligence source says as many as 50,000 people have been killed since the start of the armed conflict in April 2014.
That is dramatically higher than official data provided by either the Ukrainian government or the UN.
Speaking February 7 at a security conference in Munich, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said 1,200 soldiers and 5,400 civilians have been killed in the fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels in the Donbas region.
In its latest figures issued February 3, the UN said the conflict has claimed nearly 5,400 lives.
German intelligence is cited as calling those figures "too low and not credible."
This ends our live-blogging for February 7. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continung coverage.