German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to do more to ease tensions in Ukraine.

Merkel met with French President, Francois Hollande, in her constituency in Germany on Saturday.

Both leaders said Sunday's planned referendum in Ukraine's eastern region is illegal and will carry no weight.

But the chairman of the election commission of the self-declared Donetsk Peoples Republic said more than 1,500 polling stations are being set up and added that a "yes" vote would give the region the right to change things.

Al Jazeera's Paul Brennan reports from Donetsk.