Poroshenko, Putin agree on cease-fire in eastern Ukraine (UPDATES)

The deal was reached following overnight talks between Putin, his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Minsk.

Hollande said that the parties had reached an agreement to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

According to a copy of the agreement published by Ukrainska Pravda, heavy weaponry must be withdrawn by 25 to 70 kilometers, depending on the type of equipment, within 14 days. Ukrainian and Russian equipment will be withdrawn from the de facto frontline and the Sept. 19 demarcation line, respectively.

The deal also stipulates amnesty for Kremlin-backed insurgents and mercenaries, providing humanitarian aid to occupied territories, resuming social payments to them and holding local elections in separatist-controlled areas.

Other clauses envisage exchanging all Ukrainian prisoners for all separatist prisoners within five days after the withdrawal of heavy weaponry, as well as withdrawing Russian regular troops and mercenaries and disarming all illegal armed groups without specifying a timeline for that.

Under the agreement, Ukraine must carry out a constitutional reform in an effort to promote decentralization and grant more self-government to the occupied territories by the end of 2015.

The deal also envisages restoring Ukraine’s control over its border if Ukraine carries out a constitutional reform and holds elections in the occupied territories by the end of 2015.

Commenting on the agreement, Poroshenko
said that it did not envisage making Ukraine a federation or giving autonomy to
the occupied territories.

“It’s very important that, for
the first time, the implementation of the Minsk protocol is spelled out in
detail in the part that deals with the closure of the national border,” he
said. “It clearly stipulates that after the end of political settlement, from
the first day after local elections, control (over the border) has to be passed
to representatives of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
and Ukrainian border guards. And at the second stage, Ukrainian border guards
have to fully restore Ukraine’s sovereignty and Ukrainian control over the
national border by the end of this year.”

Poroshenko also said that Russia had agreed
to free Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko, who risks dying following a 2-month
hunger strike in a Russian detention facility. Savchenko, a member of Ukraine’s Aidar volunteer
battalion, was taken prisoner by Kremlin-backed troops in June and subsequently
brought to Russia. She is recognized by Russia’s Memorial human rights group as
a political prisoner and is accused by the Kremlin of complicity in the killing
of Russian journalists.

Kyiv Post staff writer Oleg Sukhov can be reached at [email protected].