The new diplomatic push comes as worsening conflict in eastern Ukraine is taking an increasingly heavy toll on civilians.
Hollande said Thursday that he and Merkel would push a joint proposal for new negotiations that would be “based upon the territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
The pair hope the proposal will be acceptable to all parties in the conflict, he said. But he added that “the option of negotiation, of diplomacy, cannot be extended indefinitely.”
A spokesman for Putin, Dmitry Peskov, called the upcoming meeting between Putin, Merkel and Hollande “a positive step in settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.”
Russia, Ukraine and separatist leaders previously signed a 12-point peace plan in Minsk, Belarus, in September but continued fighting left it in shreds.
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Biden is also holding meetings with European leaders on Friday in Brussels, Belgium.
The European Union and United States have already imposed a series of financial sanctions targeting Russian interests and separatist leaders in Ukraine.
The United States has steered clear of sending military aid. But that could change, officials said this week, noting that the United States is now considering sending aid to help the Ukrainian government fend off attacks from pro-Russian rebels in the eastern part of Ukraine. This assistance would come in the form of so-called defensive lethal aid, which could include anti-tank, anti-air and anti-mortar systems.
NATO defense ministers decided Thursday to establish new NATO command and control units in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria and Poland, close to Russia’s western borders.
CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh, Radina Gigova, Laura Akhoun, Alla Eshchenko, Anna Maja Rappard and Erin McLaughlin contributed to this report, as did journalist Victoria Butenko in Kiev
