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Kiev-controlled Lugansk region agrees two-day truce with self-proclaimed Lugansk republic

Igor Plotnitsky and the Governor of the Lugansk region controlled by Kiev, Gennady Moskal, have agreed on ceasing fire on January 18-19 so as to mark Epiphany, the holiday the Orthodox Christians

LUHANSK, January 17. /TASS/. Leader of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) Igor Plotnitsky and the Governor of the Lugansk region controlled by Kiev, Gennady Moskal, have agreed on ceasing fire on January 18-19 so as to mark Epiphany, the holiday the Orthodox Christians in Russia and Ukraine celebrate with special rites and traditions on the same days.

“Today we have turned to the Ukrainian governor Gennady Moskal with a request to stop artillery shelling on January 18-19,” Plotnitsky was quoted by the Luhansk Information Centre news agency as saying.

Moskal supported the proposal on his part, noting that the ceasefire would “allow the local residents and servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to mark the holiday in peace and in a calm atmosphere.”

He invited “all patriotically-minded Ukrainians to baptise on Epiphany day in the Seversky Donets River, a natural frontier separating the Luhansk region controlled by Ukraine and the LPR.”.

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