With the fragile ceasefire in Ukraine coming under threat by fresh violence in eastern Ukraine, Germany has stepped in with an offer to send 200 peacekeepers including paratroopers to Ukraine.

Endorsing the plans of European Union to secure peace in Ukraine, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has started exploratory discussions to "salvage the crumbling ceasefire" between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian government since it came into in September, reports Daily Mail UK.

Historic Importance

There is a historic importance about the entry of German troops into Ukraine. This time they are seeking to enter Ukraine as peaceniks, but German troops, under the Nazi invasion during the Second World War in 1941 had the most violent face and killed 7 million Soviet Ukrainian civilians and military personnel. That is why Berlin showed some initial reluctance to the idea of deploying its troops in Ukraine because of the Second World War incidents.

Germany has confirmed that it was in 'exploratory discussions' to send force to assist the Organisation for Security Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to monitor the situation on the ground. The urgency of sending troops follows mounting concerns of a full-scale violence engulfing the part of eastern Ukraine. Adding to that is the need to offer more security to Ukraine to hold the Parliamentary elections. The West fears that Russian President Vladimir Putin is doing his best to build a buffer state called Novorossiya or New Russia in eastern Ukraine.

French Drones

Meanwhile, France extended its support to Germany to monitor the ceasefire in Ukraine. French defence minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, told RTL radio that both France and Germany will jointly deploy drones to support the efforts of OSCE to monitor pace of ceasefire. France is in touch with Germany on that matter though France did not commit on deploying its troops.

Meanwhile, heavy fighting broke out near the airport town of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. On Sunday, one dozen pro-Russian separatists were killed during the fight by rebels to take over the strategic Donetsk airport. In the flare up, two Ukrainian soldiers were also killed, reports Reuters.

Ukraine has been charging the Russia-backed separatists of violating the ceasefire saying the government forces are coming under severe attack in many parts of the east. According to a UN report, this year 3,600 people died in Ukraine in the raging conflict between separatist rebels and government forces.