A POWERFUL explosion set ablaze a chemical plant west of the city of Donetsk today after intense shelling by Ukrainian government forces.

No casualties were immediately reported from the blast, but it could be heard in central Donetsk, which lies in the middle of Ukraine’s industrial heartland.

The Donetsk News Agency, run by the anti-fascist resistance, said that the fire had been put out and posed no danger.

Heavy shelling around the city overnight had killed two people in the city, Donetsk people’s republic official Eduard Basurin said.

In neighbouring government-controlled areas, at least seven people were killed on Sunday.

The leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine plan to hold a summit in Minsk, Belarus, on Wednesday to breathe new life into September’s peace plan for eastern Ukraine.

Preparations for it were laid in Berlin today, while resistance leaders and representatives of Russia, Ukraine and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe are expected to meet tomorrow.

German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said in Berlin that discussions in the Belorussian capital would not contain any radically new elements.

“It’s not about developing new parameters but about doing the obvious, which is achieving an end to the direct fighting,” he said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel flew to Washington today to try to persuade President Barack Obama against escalating tension by supplying weaponry to Kiev.

The White House has said that Mr Obama is reconsidering his opposition to arming Ukraine but Ms Merkel adamantly opposes such steps.

European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels today decided to defer any consideration of expanding sanctions against Russia and the Ukrainian opposition and to await developments from the peace talks.

EU foreign ministers have backed fresh diplomatic efforts, rejecting calls by some US politicians to provide lethal weapons to Kiev.

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed rumours that Ms Merkel had handed Vladimir Putin an ultimatum at their talks last Friday in Moscow.

“Nobody has ever talked to the president about ultimatums and they couldn’t even if they wanted to,” he declared.