France and Germany are working to hold negotiations in the Normandy Four format in the coming weeks, President of France Francois Hollande said at the UN General Assembly meeting on Tuesday.

"We with German Chancellor Angela Merkel have taken the initiative to organize a meeting with the presidents of Russia and Ukraine [Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko] in the coming weeks in order to spur the Minsk agreements," he said.

The French president stressed that the failure of the Minsk agreements threatens to exacerbate the conflict in Ukraine, "or may even lead to a resumption of war."