MOSCOW will not allow the defeat of pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned.

He argued both sides needed to make concessions for a floundering peace deal to succeed.

Mr Putin's comments in a German TV interview came as EU foreign ministers met in Brussels to discuss a response to the continuing fighting in Ukraine.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared the conflict was not just about Ukraine but about peace across Europe.

Mr Putin said he still believed in the success of peace efforts in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian rebels have been battling Kiev's troops in a conflict that has claimed more than 4,000 lives.

The Russian leader blamed the fighting on the failure by both the rebels and Ukrainian troops to pull back from the front line, a key requirement under a September ceasefire.

He accused the West of turning a blind eye to Ukraine's use of heavy weapons against residential areas in rebel-held territory.

Mr Putin said: "You want the Ukrainian central authorities to annihilate everyone there, all of their political foes and opponents? Is that what you want? We certainly don't. And we won't let it happen."

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied claims by Ukraine and the West that Moscow has been fuelling the rebellion with troops and ­weapons. Mr Putin dodged the question in the interview, saying: "In today's world, anyone waging a fight that they believe fair will always find weapons."

At a meeting in Brussels, EU foreign ministers mulled the ­possibility of further sanctions against Moscow for its actions regarding Ukraine.

Federica Mogherini, the EU's foreign affairs chief, said more sanctions against Russia would not be effective and the EU should focus instead on encouraging meaningful reforms in Kiev.

But Mrs Merkel struck a more defiant note, saying sanctions would remain in place "as far and long as they are needed".

She said Russia's annexation of Crimea "calls into question the horror of two world wars and, after the end of the Cold War, Europe's framework of peace".

The German Chancellor added: "Who would have thought that, 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, after the end of the Cold War and the end of the world's separation into two blocks, something like this could have happened in the middle of Europe?

"Old ways of thinking in spheres of influence, which spurn international law, must not become accepted."

She warned regional conflicts like the one raging in eastern Ukraine "can very quickly broaden to major fires".

Mrs Merkel said: "It's not only about Ukraine. It's about Moldova, it's about Georgia, if it continues like this ... one has to wonder about Serbia, one has to wonder about the countries in the western Balkans."

In the rebel-held stronghold of Donetsk, officials said one civilian had been killed and eight injured in fighting over the weekend. The pound of artillery fire could be heard in the city throughout yesterday morning.

After Ukraine announced on Friday that it would suspend banking services in rebel-held areas, Donetsk residents huddled outside banks, waiting to withdraw their dwindling cash.

On the Ukrainian side, security officials said six troops were killed and nine wounded in clashes at the weekend.