Merkel says all must be done to implement Minsk peace deal

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that the ceasefire agreement in eastern Ukraine was not being respected and everything must be done to fully implement the broader peace deal reached in Minsk in February. "The ceasefire agreement hasn't been fully implemented and that's meant that there have been more and more victims," Merkel said in a news conference in Berlin with French President Francois Hollande and Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko. "The first and foremost condition is that everything is done to make the ceasefire agreement a reality. The task at hand means that what we agreed in Minsk has to be respected." Merkel added: "We are here to implement the Minsk deal, not to call it into question." More than 6,500 people, including hundreds of civilians, have been killed in the conflict. Both sides have withdrawn large numbers of heavy weapons from the conflict zone in line with the Minsk agreement but sporadic clashes still take a steady toll of lives daily. (Reporting by Noah Barkin and Erik Kirschbaum)