Hollande says EU will step up sanctions if no change by Russia

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders will be forced to step up sanctions on Russia if Moscow continues to intervene militarily in eastern Ukraine, French President Francois Hollande said on Saturday. "What's happening in Ukraine is so serious that the European Council will be obliged to react by increasing the level of sanctions if things remain as they are, that is to say with the proven presence of weapons coming from Russia, perhaps more soldiers who are also over the borders, so I think we must act and a request to prepare new sanctions which surely be made to the European Commission," he told reporters as he arrived for an EU summit. (Reporting by Adrian Croft; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)