Monitoring Desk: Minsk Summit at last brought results as an a agreement has been reached after 14 hours long deliberations to stop war in Ukraine. It has been decided that ceasefire will be enforced from at 00:00 hours on February 15 and Ukrainian troops and rebels will go back to positions where they were at the time of September 2014 Minsk meeting.
German Chancellor Anegla Merkel said ceasefire must follow with further positive developments. She added as:
“There is still “very, very much work” ahead for peace in Ukraine, however we now have a glimmer of hope for progress”.
European Union welcomed the announcement of Merkel about ceasefire.
Welcome Hollande-Merkel brokered ceasefire agreement in #Minsk on #Ukraine. All sides must now abide by agreement, turn words into actions
— EP President (@EP_President) February 12, 2015
Merkel said that both parties have responsibilities to make on-going negotiations for peace a reality. She said Russian President must put pressure on rebels to respect Minsk Summit decisions.
While French president indicated that Ukrainian government must take appropriate steps for larger autonomy for Eastern regions.
It may be mentioned that a compromise decision was taken over the disengagement line and it has been decided that Ukrainian troops would pull back heavy weapons from the current frontline. The rebels would pull back from the line as it existed in September, when the previous ceasefire agreement was signed.
According to media reports, following points designed the truce document that is yet to be placed to media:
1- Constitutional reform in Ukraine must be completed by the end of 2015
2- Decentralization issue should be reconsidered as well.
3- Legislation on the special status of the southeastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk be done by Verkhovna Rada (Ukranian parliament) for special status of Donbas within 30 days
4- Operation of the banking system in the region will be restored.
5- All-for-all’ prisoner exchange between Kiev and eastern Ukrainian forces should take place within five days following troops’ pull back.
6- Reactivation of pensions of people living in Eastern Ukraine by Kiev government. It may be mentioned that US-backed Kiev government suspended pensions of Ukrainians who were living in eastern Ukraine.
7- Prisoners swap shall be done as soon as possible.
8- All foreign troops shall leave Eastern Ukraine (reference that Russian troops are fighting against Kiev government while posted in eastern Ukrainian).
Early story and Live developments:
One of the longest ever European diplomatic talks are over after 12 hours discussion over Ukraine Crises. Ceasefire in Ukraine is to start on February 14. Ukraine and Russia media are claiming that Talks are Yet Not over and Ukrainian President Poroshenko calling some clauses of the document as “unacceptable but Russian President Vladimir Putin while talking to media said:
“An agreement has been reached in Minsk to stop hostilities in Ukraine from Sunday. I believe we agreed on a big deal. We agreed to a ceasefire starting at 00:00 on February 15”.
There is “no good news yet” from a marathon four-way peace summit in Minsk, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told AFP on Thursday, as Russia is imposing “unacceptable” conditions.
“Unfortunately there’s no good news yet. There are conditions that I consider unacceptable. Negotiations) process is ongoing”, said Poroshenko while talking to AFP news agency.
Truce document is ready signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel who were negotiating truce for Ukraine during their extraordinary meeting at Independence Palace in Minsk, Belarus.
