Germany's Steinmeier Presses for Ukraine Progress

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for a swift resolution to the Ukraine conflict on a visit to Volgograd on Thursday, expressing hope a peace deal agreed in Minsk would enter its "next phase". Steinmeier's visit to the Russian city formerly called Stalingrad, where Soviet forces drove back Nazi troops in one of the bloodiest battles in history, comes days before the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two in Europe. Relations between Russia and Germany, countries with multibillion-dollar trade and energy links, are at a low point over the conflict in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed by the West on Russia for its backing of pro-Russian rebels there.