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LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - Belarus sees no solution to the crisis between its neighbors Russia and Ukraine without another regional summit, the country's Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said on Monday.

"I believe that for now there are no prospects for a solution to the Ukraine crisis," Makei told a joint news conference with his Slovenian counterpart Karl Erjavec during a one-day visit to Slovenia on Monday.

"To solve the crisis the Minsk agreements would have to be respected, which unfortunately is not the case today," Makei, who was speaking through an interpreter, said in reference to an agreement reached in the capital of Belarus in 2014 and 2015.

This was designed to ensure a ceasefire and long-term stability after the crisis which erupted at the start of 2014 when protesters ousted pro-Russian Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, prompting Russia to annexe Crimea.

Makei said another meeting between Russia, Ukraine and other participants in the crisis would have to be organized in order to solve the crisis.

Reporting by Marja Novak; editing by Alexander Smith

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Belarus sees no solution to Ukraine crisis without another summit - Reuters

KIEV (Reuters) - Russian aggression is to blame for violence in eastern Ukraine, where people are dying in what should be seen as a "hot war" rather than a "frozen conflict", the U.S. special envoy to the Ukraine peace talks said on a visit to Ukraine on Sunday.

Kurt Volker, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, was appointed to his current role on July 7 to help resolve the conflict between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists, which has killed more than 10,000 people since 2014.

Washington cites the conflict as a key obstacle to better relations with Russia.

On a visit to the Ukrainian-held town of Kramatorsk, 690 km (430 miles) southeast of Kiev, Volker said he would prepare a set of recommendations on how Washington can better engage with the peace process.

"This is not a frozen conflict, this is a hot war, and it's an immediate crisis that we all need to address as quickly as possible," he said.

Relations between Ukraine and Russia went into freefall after Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea and the subsequent outbreak of a pro-Russian insurgency in the eastern Donbass region.

Ukraine accuses Russian of sending in its own soldiers and military equipment, which Moscow denies.

Volker replied in the affirmative when asked whether he saw the conflict as being as the result of Russian aggression rather than internal Ukrainian factors.

"We've seen what's happened, we understand the way this conflict has begun, we understand the way it is being managed today, and that's why it's important that the United States become more engaged."

Fighting in the Donbass region has killed 12 people in a particularly bloody week, prompting Germany and France to urge immediate progress in implementing ceasefire agreements signed in Belarus in 2015 that are regularly flouted.

Leaders of France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia will speak by phone on Monday to discuss the conflict.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in early July that Russia must make the first move to bring peace to Ukraine, which President Petro Poroshenko called a powerful signal of Washington's backing.

A career diplomat, Volker is a former aide to Republican Senator John McCain, a Russia hawk who wants the United States to supply lethal weapons to Ukraine, a move the previous administration under Barack Obama shied away from.

Editing by Mark Trevelyan

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Russia to blame for 'hot war' in Ukraine: US special envoy - Reuters

French President Emmanuel Macron has said he will call the leaders of Russia, Germany, and Ukraine on July 24 in a stepped-up international effort to end the fighting in eastern Ukraine.

The holding of the Normandy format talks between Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is part of a continuous effort by the four countries to resolve the conflict in which Russia-backed separatists are fighting Ukrainian troops.

More than 10,000 people have died in the conflict, which began in early 2014, with hundreds of thousands of others forced to flee their homes.

A cease-fire agreement signed in February 2015 in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, has failed to end the violence, which has recently flared up and led to at least 11 Ukrainian soldiers being killed in recent days.

The French president's announcement comes one day after the United States announced that special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker will travel to Kyiv for talks.

The State Department said Volker, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, will meet in Ukraine with those who "have been affected by Russian aggression."

He will also visit Brussels, France, Austria, and Britain in an effort to find a "path to restoring Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity."

Moscow denies involvement in the conflict despite compelling evidence that Russia has supported the separatists financially and militarily.

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French President To Hold Talks With Putin, Merkel, Poroshenko On Ukraine Conflict - RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty

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The Westerners crowdfunding for the breakup of Ukraine BBC News When the conflict started, Bentley was working as a lumberjack in Austin. Yet by December 2014 he had reached the epicentre of the conflict - armed with a rocket propelled grenade launcher and tasked with repelling Ukrainian forces at Donetsk airport ... and more »

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The Westerners crowdfunding for the breakup of Ukraine - BBC News

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron will call the leaders of Russia, Germany and Ukraine on Monday to discuss the conflict in eastern Ukraine, his office said in a statement, as world powers step up efforts to try to end the violence in the region.

The conversations with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Germany's Angela Merkel and Ukraine president Petro Poroshenko are part of moves involving the four countries since 2014 to resolve the separatist conflict in which some 10,000 people have been killed.

A ceasefire agreement was signed in February 2015 in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, but has failed to end the violence.

Macron met Poroshenko in June, shortly after winning the French presidential election.

At the time, Macron had said he saw no better way of negotiating an end to the conflict in Ukraine than through the Minsk agreements - comments that contrasted with those of U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Tillerson said on June 14 that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump did not wish to be "handcuffed" by the 2015 accords, and he suggested Kiev could reach a separate, independent agreement with Moscow.

Tillerson carried out his first official visit to Kiev earlier this month, during which he said Russia should make the first move to bring peace to eastern Ukraine, and that Washington's primary goal was the restoration of Ukrainian territorial sovereignty.

Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Andrew Bolton

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Macron to discuss Ukraine with Putin, Merkel and Poroshenko - Reuters