MOSCOW, December 2 (Sputnik) – Ukraine’s military and representatives of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic have agreed to a ceasefire and withdrawal of heavy weapons, the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) said Monday.
“All agreed in principle to a total ceasefire along the entire line of contact between Ukrainian Armed Forces and those under control of the “LPR”, to be effective from 5 December… They also agreed that the withdrawal of heavy weapons would start on 6 December,” said the report published Monday.
The agreements were reached following talks within the framework of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC) in Luhansk on Saturday, according to the SMM. The JCCC was set up by Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in East Ukraine in October to coordinate the implementation of the ceasefire agreement in the country.
In mid-April, Kiev authorities launched a military operation against independence supporters in Ukraine's southeastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. The warring sides reached a ceasefire agreement in September, but have since accused each other of violating the truce. Some 4,300 people have been killed and almost 10,000 have sustained injuries since the beginning of the armed conflict, according to UN data.
