Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a cease-fire agreement for
eastern Ukraine had been reached Thursday, bringing an end to marathon
talks between the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France.
The agreement is due to take effect at midnight Sunday (4 p.m. ET
Saturday), but questions remain about whether the deal will hold up
after the collapse of a previous cease-fire in September. French
President Francois Hollande called the agreement a "serious deal" in
comments to the BBC,
but noted that not every issue had been resolved. Hollande said that he
and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were committed to helping verify
the cease-fire process.
In one potential area of disagreement, Putin said that he and his
opposite number, Ukraine's Petro Poroshenko disagreed on assessing the
situation in the government-held town of Debaltseve. The town is a key
transport hub between Donetsk and Luhansk, the two major cities
controlled by Moscow-backed separatist rebels, and has been the focus of
intense fighting in recent weeks as the rebels sought to encircle the
Ukrainian troops there.
Putin said that the rebels consider the Ukrainian forces surrounded
and expect them to surrender, while Ukraine disagrees with that. Putin
added that they agreed with Poroshenko to clarify the situation, and
urged the warring parties to show restraint.
For his part, Poroshenko said that all parties agreed to help Ukraine
reclaim control of the border with Russia, some of which is now
controlled by the rebels. Poroshenko also told reporters that that heavy
weaponry will be withdrawn from the front lines by both sides between
31 and 43 miles in the next two weeks.
The line of division and other key provisions were contained in a
document endorsed by rebel chiefs and the representatives of Russia,
Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE). That agreement was endorsed by the four leaders, who issued a
separate declaration.
Poroshenko also said that no agreement had been reached on the issue
of greater autonomy for the rebel-held areas of eastern Ukraine. The
separatists' early demands for a federalized Ukraine culminated in a May
independence referendum.
"We were presented with various unacceptable conditions of withdrawal
and surrender," Poroshenko said. "We did not agree to any ultimatums
and stated firmly that the cease-fire that is announced is
unconditional."
Poroshenko also said the documents signed envisage the withdrawal of
all foreign troops and militants from Ukraine -- a reference to the
soldiers and weapons that Ukraine and the West say Russia has sent into
eastern Ukraine to back the rebels. Moscow has denied the accusations,
saying Russians in eastern Ukraine were volunteers, but the sheer number
of sophisticated heavy weapons in rebels' possession belies the denial.
The talks in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, had lasted for 16 hours before the cease-fire was announced.
"It was not the best night in my life," Putin told reporters, "but
the morning, I think, it is good because we have managed to agree on the
main things despite all the difficulties of the negotiations."
"We came to an agreement, an agreement on a cease-fire and on a
global political settlement of the Ukrainian conflict," Hollande said.
"That global settlement will include all issues, from the cease-fire to
the control of the border, to decentralization, and, of course, the
pullback of heavy weapons and resuming economic relations."
Hollande also praised Putin for applying "pressure as much as necessary on the separatists."
Meanwhile, both sides reported fighting across eastern Ukraine
Thursday, as the conflict the U.N. says has killed over 5,300 people
since this past April ground on.
The talks had been given added urgency by an increase in bloodshed in
recent weeks, as well as rising calls by U.S. lawmakers to provide
Kiev's forces with so-called lethal aid. European leaders, led by
Merkel, fear that increased weapons shipments would only aggravate the
fight. Russia, meanwhile, faces a severe economic downturn driven in
part by sanctions the West has imposed for supporting the separatists
with troops and equipment, which Russia vehemently denies it is doing.
Merkel, Putin, Poroshenko and Hollande first sat down with each other
Wednesday evening as crowds of reporters waited anxiously in a
marble-floored, chandeliered convention hall.
Before heading to Minsk, Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said
the most important goal of the talks would be to implement a cease-fire,
but warned that Ukraine could fully re-establish its control over the
border with Russia only if it offers a degree of autonomy to the east
and lifts its economic blockade.
"To give away the Russian part of the border also would be to cut
them (the rebels) off even from humanitarian help and allow them to be
surrounded," Lavrov said.
Meanwhile, in Donetsk, rebel officials said five people were killed
and nine wounded in a shelling attack on a bus station on Wednesday.
Officials in Kiev said 19 troops were also killed in fighting in
Debaltseve, a hotly contested transport hub in eastern Ukraine.
Poroshenko posted a statement saying he had made an impromptu visit
early Wednesday to the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, where Kiev
says 16 people were killed and 48 wounded in a rocket strike a day
earlier. The city is 30 miles from the nearest front line.
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