s foreign policy chief katherine ashton speaking in milan, italy on the final day of the e.u.'s foreign ministry talking there. ukraine was one of the issues, as well as the truce between israel and hamas in gaza, the situation in the middle east. the european union is considering more sanctions against russia, after accusing moscow of invading ukraine. katherine ashton will meet in brussels, and ukraine's request for military assistance will be considered. we go to milan, where the foreign ministers have been meeting. nadine, tell us about the steps that the ministers have come up with in milan, on ukraine? >> well, to be blunt. there are no concrete steps that the ministers came up with. we heard from katherine ashton using language similar to what the foreign ministers told us as they arrived on friday. lots of concern. lots of consideration of further sanctions. lots of calls for greater support from the ukranian government has been forthcoming. some of the ministers called what has occurred, but katherine ashton said that a sustain table political solution must be sought,

katherine ashton will be succeeded. and the polish prime minister will be the europe yeep council's next president. >>> despite the ongoing conflict in eastern ukraine, several thousand russians will put aside their differences. the electronic music festival has become a victim of the fighting. >> robin walker has this report. >> welcome to the cassan tip rub like. more than a music festival, it's the spiritual heart of russia. this is a party in a time of crisis. held in crimea for 20 years. russia's annexation of the territory, and the conflict forcing a relocation to georgia. the self-styled president says the world can learn a lot from his republic. >> translation: the least i could have done was gather the g20 summit. we don't live in a perfect world. it is not a festival. it's an attempt to create a perfect social model. i think i succeeded in doing that. the citizens must agree to play by the rules. be fun loving, peaceful and be themselves. people caused the fifth season. others, russian ukrainian after that. fo

. >> so that was katherine ashton speaking in mill jan. simon mcgregor-wood is in milan. that is where the meeting is taking place. what are we expect of course, first of all? >> well, we are expecting the situation, the escalating crisis in ukraine to dominate the deliberations. it's worth noting that president petro porashenko, speaking after his meeting, and mr barroso is in brussels, invited before the latest dangerous escalation took place. nonetheless he has the opportunity to talk to the collected members of to seek further expressions of solidarity, but i suspect he'll be looking for a concrete elaboration with what sanctions may be come up with by the end of the day. >> the e.u. said, like they are saying, they are ready to sake strong and clear measures against russia. do we know what type of measure they are talking about. is there an appetite to do that. >> there are lots of bold proclamations about the need to push forward, tighten sanctions. they are cautious on this issue, they say the same thing there's no shortage of rhetoric. leading us to believe that's

also there were the presidents of belarus and also the president of kazakhstan, and katherine ashton, eu foreign acheers chief and a couple of other eu representatives as well. poroshenko has come with the 12-point peace plan that he outlined in june, in which he is trying to establish a kind of framework for negotiation at the start. the 15-point peace plan essentially includes the disarming and disbandment of all militias. it involves setting up a buffer zone along the border, and kick starting, restarting local government in the area of eastern ukraine where it's mostly russian speaking. but these aren't peace talks. it's a customs union meeting, and essentially these negotiations have been sort of tacked on to that, so i don't think that we can really say that this is the culmination of any kind of talk. this is merely the beginning, the first step for any kind of settlement to start. >> thank you, rory challands joining us. let's speak to a former russian diplomat and chairman of the russian chairman society with arab countries. our reporter saying that this might be the beginnin

>> some of the meetings is over and the foreign policy chief katherine ashton said the discussion was very strong and solid and very much unanimous behind help, approved help really what's going on in northern iraq. the conclusions that came out of that eu meeting really were that they wanted for those member countries that were keen to send both weapons, ammunition and humanitarian aid to that area very much back that push but they were saying it was very much up to each individual country. and the countries standing out so far to send weapons and ammunition, of course france, the french foreign minister really drove forward to have this meeting at all in brussels while the rest of his colleagues were on holiday, they have already committed to send weapons. we're hearing that the u.k. and the dutch government are saying they will fairably consider joining that delivery of weapons and ammunition to the peshmerga. and the czech republic says it will make the decision on the 27th of august, very much looks like they'll follow suit to, fundamental military lethal support for the peshmerg

eu foreign policy chief katherine ashton outlined the plan of action. >> to call upon russia, to engage within the international community to bring this crisis to an end, to ensure the territorial integrity of ukraine, to work with the international community to achieve that. >> anna hayward is slovyansk, joins us live now. anna what more are you hearing about the russian incursion into ukrainian territory which the kremlin has denied? >> president poroshenko said that russian military vehicles had interpret ukrainian territory and then they had been damaged by ukrainian forces. now, we are unable to verify exactly what happened there, still waiting for pictures to see exactly what happened there. up in separatist territory. >> meanwhile the controversy over the possible movement of humanitarian convoys continues. give us a sense of how the fighting is affecting people on the ground there. how badly do they need aid? >> reporter: they need aid very much and that is what russia is sayings. they want to get this humanitarian aid convoy into russia -- into ukraine rather, in cities like lu

katherine ashton is also in ninsk. >>> talking are underway over ethiopia's controversial dam projecthe dam is completed in 2017, the project will cost the ethiopian government $4.2 billion, and already it is said to be 30% complete. but that is worrying egypt and sudan which lie downstream. ethiopia says the dam will not affect the countries, the other countries rely heavily on the river for hydro power and irrigation. we have a consultant on water issues, and was co-chairman of the israel jordan water committee. i should imagine this meeting is pretty important considering how many people are affected by this issue. >> i totally agree. this is a very important meeting. it should have happened sometime ago, but -- and unfortunately should have happened before ethiopia started building the dam. the two countries had the platform to discuss this, along with the other eight countries of the nile. now there is a dam being constructed? [ overlapping speakers ] >> i cannot predict what would happen, but i think both countries have reasons for these talks not to fail. >> there was talk just

we have had chancellor merkel, the french president speaking from paris, katherine ashton talking a toughgame about the need to talk about new, tougher sanctions here in brussels. there's a chance of a gap, and agrees sanctions. all 28 leaders have to sign up to them. it remains to be seen whether they can deliver the anonymity. >> we'll watch that closely. simon mcgregor-wood live in brussels. thank you. >>> coming up at 8.30, we look at the involved in the ukrainian crisis. we talk to the executive director of the american institute in ukraine. there's another issue facing the worldwide scale. and synagogue has a case of ebola, making it the fifth country to confirm a case of the violence. figures show 430 death in guinea. in sierra leone 422 died and liberia recorded the greatest number at 694. nigeria six people have decide. >> meanwhile an experimental drug to treat ebola is showing promise. it's the same drug used to treat aid workers kent brantly and nancy writebol. it was given to 18 monkeys, and out of those 18, three died. experts say these are the best results of zmapp testing