Both leaders will attend a two-day Asia-Europe meeting of leaders in Milan, Italy, starting tomorrow and "there are plans for talks with the Russian president", Merkel said.
"I expect an open exchange of opinions and progress in the implementation of the Minsk Agreement," she said, referring to the Ukraine ceasefire deal Moscow and Kiev agreed in early September in the Belarussian capital.
The talks would aim to cover the "whole range" of issues relating to Ukraine, also including a standoff on gas deliveries between Moscow and Kiev.
Merkel and Putin have been in frequent contact amid the Ukraine crisis, the worst East-West conflict since the Cold War.
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Putin has indicated that he will also be raising the issue of the cancellation of a bilateral civil society forum called the Petersburg Dialogue that has served to promote Germany-Russia ties.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier also today pushed for progress, including on securing the Russia-Ukraine border and on prisoner exchanges between Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists.
Both ministers said they hoped for speedy progress on their joint offer to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to send drones to monitor Ukraine's eastern border for incursions of Russian fighters and arms.
Steinmeier said some questions still had to be resolved, including whether Ukraine's parliament needs to agree if armed military personnel accompany the drones, but said that he expected the matter to be settled later this month.