There is little chance of major progress on ending fighting in eastern Ukraine, Germany's Foreign Ministry said yesterday, ahead of international talks. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is due to meet his counterparts from France, Ukraine and Russia in Minsk today to review progress on implementing last year's cease-fire accord and on a road map the leaders of the four countries agreed to draw up in November. <br/><br/> Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said Germany hoped Ukraine and Russia would agree to disengage their forces in some additional areas beyond the three hot spots agreed earlier. He said, officials hoped to see clear signals from the Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers that they remained committed to implementing the cease-fire accord and to constructing a road map for doing so.<br/><br/><br/>Separatist violence erupted in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and has killed more than 9,000 people. The West blames Russia for aiding the separatists and has imposed economic sanctions on Moscow. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week said, he was willing to attend four-way talks on the conflict if German and French mediators believed it would be useful. He however said, there was a fairly serious risk that this could turn out to be a meeting for the sake of meeting.