The leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine are set to meet in Paris on 9 December in a bid to end the festering conflict in eastern Ukraine.

The so-called Normandy summit derives its name from a previous meeting of the four nations in northwest France in 2014 and takes place after Russia and Ukraine agreed to de-escalation last month.

The bloodshed, in what was once the industrial heartland of Ukraine, has claimed some 13,000 lives and displaced more than 1.5 million people internally in the last five and a half years.

In a statement the Elysee Palace said: "The summit will be held following major progress since the summer in negotiations for a settlement in the east Ukraine conflict, progress which in particular allowed the removal of troops from several areas on the frontline."

Despite the optimism the meeting is not expected to yield any major breakthroughs. On the contrary, it raises the stakes for Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, a newcomer on the world stage,  who will meet for the first time, a seasoned politician like Vladimir Putin.

Since his election early this year Zelensky has said that peace talks with Russia were top of his agenda.

As a precursor to the meeting in France, both sides began withdrawing troops in a phased manner in the Donbas region.

Putin reiterated his desire for peace saying Moscow was "always ready" for talks "as long as they are well prepared and don't just lead to empty conversations but end with concrete results that are beneficial to a settlement as a whole".

Russia recently sent back to Ukraine three vessels that were seized in November 2018. The crew was returned in September as part of an exchange of prisoners.

Polls suggest Zelensky has the support of more than half of Ukrainians who want to see an end to violence in the east.

But to secure the meeting at French capital Ukraine has had to offer concessions, which many Ukrainians regard as a "capitulation" to Russia.

Apart from the coordinated withdrawal from three towns, which also saw separatists falling back, Kiev has agreed to the "Steinmeier formula" in principle.

First proposed in 2016 by Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany's former foreign minister, now president, it called for free and fair elections in the two self-declared breakaway territories, the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic.

The polls would be held under Ukrainian laws, verified by OSCE, an international security organization and lead to the reintegration of the territories into Ukraine, albeit with a special status.

While France and Germany have been eager to see the deal through, Zelensky's critics have expressed fears that the move might be legitimizing Russian presence in the Donbas. Moscow hailed it as a diplomatic victory.

The Russians have to deliver on their commitments as well. The Kremlin has always denied sending its soldiers into Donbas, claiming that only Russian volunteers were present there.

Putin, too, would be wary of being perceived as too rigid in his stance by the international community or unnecessarily accommodating by people back home.

In all likelihood, the Paris summit will only lead to some sort of understanding between the stakeholders to carry the fledgling peace process forward.

Nevertheless, the negotiations over Ukraine's east comes at a time when Washington is distracted by the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron is attempting a rapprochement with Putin.