Kiev to Demand EC Emergency Meeting if Sunday Ceasefire Deadline Not Met

According to a statement of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, he would demand an emergency meeting of the European Council, if bilateral ceasefire is not implemented in eastern Ukraine on Sunday.

KIEV (Sputnik) — Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Friday he would demand an emergency meeting of the European Council, if bilateral ceasefire is not implemented in eastern Ukraine on Sunday, according to a statement on the presidential website.

"If in early hours of Sunday [February 15] there is no bilateral ceasefire, we will call for an emergency meeting of the European Council, because Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande represent [at truce talks] not only Germany and France, they have a mandate from the whole European Union," Poroshenko said at a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany, and Russia held a 16-hour summit in Minsk on Wednesday and early Thursday that resulted in a new political deal aimed at stopping the deadly conflict in eastern Ukraine that has claimed lives of more than 5,400 people since April 2014.

The new agreement stipulates a ceasefire to begin at midnight on February 15, as well as a mutual withdrawal of heavy weapons by both sides to create a security cushion in the conflict zone.

Earlier on Friday, Poroshenko stated that despite the positive outcome of peace talks in Belarus, there still remains a threat of military escalation in Donbas.

The deputy head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic's (DPR) militia Eduard Basurin said that Donbas militia is ready to honor the new Minsk agreements but will cease fire only if the Ukrainian side does the same.