Ceasefire in Eastern Ukraine Yielding Significant Results – Lavrov
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The truce in southeastern Ukraine is yielding significant results, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday.
“Impartial observers, including the Organization for Co-operation and Security in Europe (OSCE), have registered a significant reduction in the exchange of fire, so the ceasefire is nonetheless yielding a result,” Lavrov said during a press conference.
An initial ceasefire agreement, as well as a memorandum outlining the ceasefire’s implementation, was first signed between Kyiv and eastern Ukrainian militia in September last year. The deal was repeatedly broken, however, with both sides accusing each other of carrying out deadly attacks.
A new, urgent ceasefire agreement came into effect in Ukraine’s war-torn Donbas region earlier in February.
The deal was outlined when the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany met in Minsk, Belarus, on February 12 in a bid to put an end to increased fighting between Kyiv-led forces and Donbas militia.