Ukraine government and rebels agree on ceasefire

Talks in Minsk lead to agreement on cessation of hostilities, prisoner exchanges and aid for citizens in battle zones.

Soldiers ride on a tank in the port city of Mariupol in south-eastern Ukraine on September 5, 2014, when the Ukrainian government and separatists declared a ceasefire to end nearly five months of fighShow more

MINSK // Ukraine’s government and pro-Russian separatists yesterday agreed a ceasefire in an effort to end nearly five months of fighting.

The two sides agreed to stop fighting at 6pm local time yesterday, Heidi Tagliavini, a representative of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said after negotiations in the Belarusian capital.

The talks included representatives from Ukraine, Russia, the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, where most of the fighting has occurred, and the OSCE, which will help to monitor the accord.

After announcing the ceasefire, negotiators met for a further two hours and agreed upon the withdrawal of all heavy weaponry, the release of all prisoners and the delivery of humanitarian aid to devastated cities in eastern Ukraine.

Mikhail Zurabov, the Russian ambassador to Ukraine who also signed the deal, described the exchange of lists of more than 1,000 prisoners from each side as a breakthrough.

Former president Leonid Kuchma, who led the Ukrainian delegation, said aid shipments would begin today.

US and European leaders, however, said they planned to go ahead with further sanctions against Moscow until it was clear that the Russian president Vladimir Putin was serious about peace.

Kiev and its western allies have accused Russia of aiding the separatists and sending troops and weaponry into Ukraine, a charge it denies.

Despite the ceasefire, the rebels remained defiant, with the leader of Luhansk, Igor Plotnitskiy, saying that the accord did not alter the goal of “splitting” from Ukraine.

“The ceasefire will save lives, not only of civilians, but also of those who defend their ideals, goals and tasks with weapons,” said Alexander Zakharchenko, who calls himself prime minister of Donetsk.

Ms Tagliavini, the OSCE representative, said the legal status of the mainly Russian-speaking regions was not discussed on Friday.

Russia has sought broader autonomy for the regions since Ukraine’s Kremlin-backed president, Viktor Yanukovich, was deposed after months of protests in February, leading to Putin’s annexation of Crimea.

Mr Poroshenko said on his website that the peace plan follows what he and Mr Putin agreed to by phone, including “significant” steps toward “decentralisation” in Donestk and Luhansk, including special status for parts of those regions relating to the economy and use of language. He did not elaborate.

The US president Barack Obama said at the Nato summit in Wales that world leaders would go ahead with new sanctions against Russia, saying he was “sceptical” Moscow would stop “violating Ukraine’s sovereignty”.

The proposed measures include barring some Russian state-owned defence and energy companies from raising capital in the EU, a British official said.

In a move spurred in part by Russia’s actions in Ukraine, Nato leaders on Friday approved plans to create a rapid response force with a headquarters in eastern Europe that could quickly mobilise if an alliance country in the region were to come under attack.

Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the new unit would send a clear message to potential aggressors, namely Russia.

“Should you even think of attacking one ally, you will be facing the whole alliance,” he declared as the two-day summit drew to a close.

A lasting truce in Ukraine would be the biggest breakthrough yet in the conflict, which has killed more than 2,600 people, displaced more than 1 million more, and soured Russia’s relations with its former Cold War foes to the worst in more than two decades.

* Bloomberg News and Associated Press