Ukraine crisis: Do not try to scare Putin with arms deliveries, warns Merkel.

Ukraine crisis: Do not try to scare Putin, warns Merkel. (Telegraph).

Sending arms to Ukraine will not scare Vladimir Putin, warns Angela Merkel, while Francois Hollande warns it could lead to war

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, championed last chance efforts to end the Ukraine conflict while warning success was far from certain as Kiev said rebels were massing for a new offensive.

As fresh fighting in eastern Ukraine saw five civilians and five government soldiers reported killed in 24 hours Merkel insisted that sending more weapons would not resolve the conflict.

"I can't conceive of a situation where better armaments for the Ukrainian army would so impress President Putin that he believes he will militarily lose," Merkel told the Munich Security Conference.

The German leader came to Munich from overnight Moscow talks she and French President Francois Hollande held with Russian President Vladimir Putin to thrash out new peace proposals.

"It is uncertain whether it will lead to success, but from my point of view and that of the French president it is definitely worth trying," she said of the Franco-German initiative.

Hollande for his part said the stakes could not be higher and the new peace plan was "one of the last chances" to halt the 10-month-old conflict.

"If we fail to find a lasting peace agreement, we know the scenario perfectly well - it has a name, it is called war," he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he believed the new proposals could help end the conflict, all the while charging the United States and the European Union with having escalated the conflict at every turn.

"These talks will continue as you know; we believe there is every possibility that we will reach a result and agree the recommendations that will allow the sides to really untie this knot of a conflict," Lavrov told an MSC panel.

In that case, Russia would be ready to guarantee the outcome, he added..Hmmm..........Russia is not ready yet he will only go to war if provoked, but it will come once he's ready. Read the full story here.

Related: Russian Dep PM Rogozin: " This Armata tank isn't for parades. But we'll make an exception for May 9th."