Ukraine, pro-Russians ink ceasefire deal

The Ukrainian government and pro-Russia forces have signed a preliminary ceasefire deal to end nearly five months of fighting in the nation’s east.

The agreement was signed after two hours of negotiations in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk on Friday between former Ukrainian president, Leonid Kuchma, who represented the government in Kiev, and rebel leaders, Igor Plotnitsky and Alexander Zakharchenko.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ordered troops to stop all hostilities by 15:00 GMT and instructed the Foreign Ministry to oversee monitoring of the ceasefire along with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Following the agreement, Plotnitskiy stressed that ceasefire does not mean a change in their goal to split from Ukraine, adding, “We believe that an immediate ceasefire presents the basis to develop dialogue by political and economic means.”

The deal incorporates 12 points, including a ceasefire monitoring regime and prisoner exchanges, OSCE negotiator Heidi Tagliavini said.

The negotiations came amid heavy fighting between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian forces in the southeastern city of Mariupol which claimed the lives of seven civilians and injured 23 others over the past day.

Meanwhile, EU representatives are expected to finalize a new round of anti-Russia sanctions in Brussels on Friday afternoon, which among other things incorporates further restrictions on Moscow’s access to European financial markets and exports as well as fresh travel bans and asset freezes.

The European diplomats say implementation of the bans is contingent upon developments.

On Friday, NATO leaders agreed to deploy several thousand troops to Eastern Europe amid continuation of the Ukrainian crisis.

Ukraine’s mainly Russian-speaking regions in the east have witnessed deadly clashes between pro-Moscow forces and the Ukrainian army since Kiev launched military operations to silence pro-Russians in mid-April.

Violence intensified in May after the two flashpoint regions of Donetsk and Lugansk held local referendums, in which their residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from Ukraine.

Western powers and the Kiev government accuse Moscow of having a hand in the crisis in eastern Ukraine, but the Kremlin denies the accusation.

ASH/HSN/SS