DONETSK, October 10. /TASS/. Representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) have reached an agreement with Ukraine on a demarcation line, DPR First Deputy Prime Minister Ravil Khalikov told TASS on Friday.
“I can add that the Ukrainian side eventually agreed to the demarcation line drawn on our maps. According to their variant, we were to yield a number of inhabited localities to them. But in the long run, our variant was adopted,” Khalikov said.
The agreement was reached two days ago but only announced now, he added.
Ceasefire and Minsk agreements
The parties to the Ukrainian conflict agreed on cessation of fire and exchange of prisoners during talks mediated by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on September 5 in Belarusian capital Minsk. The ceasefire took effect the same day but reports said it has occasionally been violated.
Ukraine’s parliament on September 16 granted a special self-rule status to certain districts in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions for three years. The Verkhovna Rada also passed a law on amnesty for participants of combat activities in Ukraine’s troubled eastern regions.
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 calibers of over 100 millimeters to a distance of 15 kilometers from the contact line from each side. The OSCE was tasked with controlling the implementation of memorandum provisions.