Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has announced an agreement has been reached on a ceasefire in Ukraine as a result of talks in the Norman format in Minsk. The ceasefire is to come in force since February 15.
“We have managed to agree on the key issue,” Putin said. According to him, the Norman Four has agreed on withdrawal of heavy machinery from the contact line for the Ukrainian troops and from the line set last September.
The Russian leader informed the parties managed to agree on a set of measures in political and humanitarian fields, including a constitutional reform that is supposed to take into account rights of the people in Donbass and implementation of the law on special status of the territories.
The talks of Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko took place in the Minsk Independence Palace and lasted for more than 14 hours. Later, OSCE Chairperson’s Special Representative Heidi Tagliavini joined the talks.