By Andreas Rinke and Tom Balmforth BERLIN, Dec 15 (Reuters) - U.S. negotiators have told Ukraine during peace talks in Berlin that it must agree to withdraw its forces from the eastern Donetsk region as part of any deal to end the nearly four-year-old war,

The leaders of Germany, Britain and France were among those expected to take part in the meeting of Ukraine's allies, dubbed the Coalition of the Willing, via video link.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday praised his conversation with special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner during a “long and substantive” call to further peace talks between Ukraine and Russia.

The M23 rebel group consolidated control over the strategic town of Uvira in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday, residents said, as Kinshasa warned that the Rwanda-backed advance could derail U.

Mr. Trump last week declared that he had ended the decades-old conflict between Congo and Rwanda when he gathered several African leaders for the signing of the Washington Accord, a peace and economic deal that includes millions in U.S. investments.