There was
a Marathon
peace talks aimed at ending the bloody crisis in eastern Ukraine And an agreement was reached on both sides to
pull back heavy weapons, and ceasefire that will start on Sunday. If the
ceasefire holds -- which is far from certain -- it could bring to an end a
10-month conflict that has claimed more than 5,000 lives, many of them
civilians, and plunged East-West relations to their lowest point since the end
of the Cold War.
Addressing
reporters after the four-way overnight talks in Minsk, Belarus, Russian
President Vladimir Putin said all parties had agreed to the ceasefire starting
February 15 and called for restraint in the interim.
"I
call on both sides to end the bloodshed as soon as possible" and come to a
real political solution to the conflict, he said.
Putin
added that all sides have agreed to pull back heavy weapons.
Ukraine
fighting intensifies ahead of peace talks 01:40
Germany's
Foreign Office confirmed on Twitter that an agreement had been reached in the talks
between Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany.
"After
17 hours the negotiations in Minsk are finished: Ceasefire on 15.02 at 0:00 and
the withdrawal of heavy weapons. That is a reason for hope," German
government spokesman Steffen Seibert tweeted.
Full details
of the agreement have yet to be released.
A
previous ceasefire deal agreed to in September, also in Minsk, broke down amid
continued fighting.
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