Contact Group on Ukraine Agrees Donbass Ceasefire From April

The Trilateral Contact Group on Ukrainian reconciliation coordinated on Wednesday a new ceasefire along the separation line in Donbas for the duration of the Easter holidays starting on April 1, Russian envoy to the Contact Group Boris Gryzlov said.

MINSK (Sputnik) — The Donbass conflict erupted in April 2014 as a local counter-reaction to the West-sponsored Maidan coup in Kiev that had toppled President Viktor Yanukovych in February. Residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions held independence referendums and proclaimed the People's Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. Kiev has since been conducting a military operation, encountering stiff local resistance.

In February 2015, Kiev forces and Donbass independence supporters signed a peace agreement in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. The deal stipulates a full ceasefire, weapons withdrawal from the line of contact in Donbass, as well as constitutional reforms that would give a special status to the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics. Despite the agreement brokered by the Normandy Four states, the ceasefire regime is regularly violated, with both sides accusing each other of multiple breaches, undermining the terms of the accord.

"The good news is, definitely, today's statement by the Contact group, which reiterates the absence of alternatives to the Minsk peace accords, and stipulates the agreement by all sides to respect full cessation of hostilities starting midnight April 1 in light of Easter holidays," Gryzlov told reporters.

"It would be great if this ceasefire could last indefinitely," Gryzlov stressed.