Anna Sorokina, Based on Interfax
February 12, 2015

After a 16-hour-long negotiation in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine reached an agreement to bring peace to the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine.

The parties to the conflict have agreed to begin a ceasefire at 00:00 on Feb. m15, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters after the meetings ended.

"[They] have managed to agree on the main things," Putin said. "First of all, it was agreed to cease fire at 00:00 on Feb. 15.

The Minsk Agreements, which were signed in the Belarusian capital on Sept. 5 and 9, 2014, included terms for a ceasefire, the withdrawal of heavy arms, Kiev's approval of a special status for the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions, amnesty for the militias, as well as the creation of a monitoring group that would observe the cessation of military activities. The agreements were never fully implemented.

"The second position, which I view as very important, is the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the contact line existing today by the Ukrainian forces and from the line set in the Minsk agreements of Sept. 19, 2014 by the Donbass militias," Putin said. "We are expecting all sides [to the conflict] to exercise restraint in the forthcoming period until the complete ceasefire is attained.”

The enforcement of the Minsk agreements reached on Feb.12 envisions a constitutional reform in Ukraine, which must take into account the legitimate rights of the Donbass residents, Russian President said:

"There is a set of measures related to the further political settlement, and it includes several positions. First, this is a constitutional reform, which must take into consideration legitimate rights of the people living on the Donbass territory."

French President Francois Hollande called the agreement “a comprehensive political solution,” according to France 24. "This is a relief for Europe and a hope for Ukraine," Hollande said. The French president confirmed that the sides had managed to reach "a global agreement" on a number of contentious issues in Minsk. "There is still a lot to be done for settling the conflict, but this is a real chance to improve the situation [in Ukraine]," he said.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that the meeting was quite tense.

"It was not easy. In fact, different unacceptable conditions, including retreat and surrender, were put forth to us. But we did not bow to any ultimatums and firmly stood by our position that a ceasefire should not have any preliminary conditions, " Poroshenko told reporters.

"The document contains a clear obligation on the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Ukrainian territory. All mercenaries must be withdrawn from Ukrainian territory in the near future," Poroshenko told.

"The ceasefire will be accompanied by the withdrawal of heavy armaments, heavy artillery systems with calibers larger than 100mm. It has been agreed to pull the artillery back from the "Minsk line" held by the illegal armed units and the actual line held by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to the distances of 25 kilometers. In all, the buffer zone will be 50 kilometers [31 miles] wide," Poroshenko said.

"An agreement has been achieved on the withdrawal of all hostages. They have to be freed within 19 days. All hostages must be freed. Fourteen days have been allotted for the withdrawal of heavy artillery and five more days for the full release of all hostages," Poroshenko said.

"General Staff Chief [Viktor] Muzhenko acting on my orders and Russian General Staff Chief [Valery] Gerasimov, who has been given similar instructions, will negotiate effective control over the compliance with the ceasefire regime," said Poroshenko.

Self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic leader Alexander Zakharchenko has put the entire responsibility for a possible breach of the agreements on Kiev.

“The whole responsibility for any possible violation of the provisions of this memorandum will rest upon Petro Poroshenko," Zakharchenko told reporters.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is hopeful that both sides in the Ukrainian conflict will abide by the agreements secured at the Minsk summit.

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