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Poroshenko, Merkel discuss full ceasefire in southeastern Ukraine

“Special attention was paid to the implementation of the Minsk agreements on full ceasefire in the republic’s southeast,” Poroshenko wrote on Twitter

© Michail Polinchak/TASS

ROME, October 17. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed full ceasefire in southeastern Ukraine on Thursday, October 16, ahead of the Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit.

“Special attention was paid to the implementation of the Minsk agreements on full ceasefire in the republic’s southeast,” Poroshenko wrote on Twitter.

The parties to the Ukrainian conflict agreed on cessation of fire and exchange of prisoners during OSCE-mediated talks on September 5 in Belarusian capital Minsk. The ceasefire took effect the same day but reports said it has occasionally been violated.

On September 20 in Minsk, the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine comprising representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE adopted a memorandum outlining the parameters for the implementation of commitments on the ceasefire in Ukraine laid down in the Minsk Protocol of September 5. The document contains nine points, including in particular a ban on the use of all armaments and withdrawal of weapons with the calibres of over 100 millimetres to a distance of 15 kilometres from the contact line from each side. The OSCE was tasked with controlling the implementation of memorandum provisions.

The documents were signed by OSCE envoy Heidi Tagliavini, Ukrainian ex-president Leonid Kuchma, Russian Ambassador to Russia Mikhail Zurabov, Prime Minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic Alexander Zakharchenko and head of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic Igor Plotnitsky.

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Ukraine crisis OSCE Angela Merkel Pyotr Poroshenko

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