BERLIN (AP) — Russia, Ukraine and France sent their top diplomats to Berlin on Wednesday to discuss how to move ahead with the peace agreement for eastern Ukraine amid a fragile cease-fire and little progress on political issues.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who hosted the talks at a lakeside retreat, said a previous meeting in Paris had been unsatisfactory.

"In practice, the talks about the political process" have more or less come to a standstill, he told reporters. "It cannot stay that way."

Steinmeier warned that the 2015 Minsk peace accord for Ukraine would be undermined if there was no progress on its implementation, and that could escalate the conflict that has already killed more than 9,300 people in two years. One aim of Wednesday's talks was trying to extend a cease-fire now in place for the Orthodox Easter period, he said.

German officials have also put forward a plan for how Ukraine could stage local elections in the eastern area that is now controlled by Russian-backed separatists. The issue of more local control for the east has been a major sticking point among the warring parties and Russia is expected to make a counter-proposal Wednesday.

"I hope that we will make a bit of progress today and agree on a procedure for how to approach the preparation of a local election law," said Steinmeier.

It is the 12th time that the four countries' top diplomats have met in this way on the fighting in Ukraine.

Germany is pressing for progress ahead of the scheduled expiration of European Union sanctions against Russia at the end of July. A decision on whether to prolong, modify or drop the sanctions will have to be made by EU leaders when they meet in six weeks.

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This story has been corrected to reflect that it is the 12th meeting of the four countries' top diplomats based upon a revised figure from the Foreign Ministry.