RUSSIAN AND UKRAINIAN LEADERS DISCUSS CEASE-FIRE

Russian President Vladimir Putin (Image: AA)

Moscow, 15 Dzulqa’dah 1435/10 September 2014 (MINA) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken to his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko by phone over the cease-fire agreement reached between government forces and separatists in eastern Ukraine.

The Kremlin’s press center issued a written statement on Wednesday saying the two leaders agreed on the importance of both sides complying with the truce which seeks to end five months of bloodshed in Ukraine.

Putin reiterated that Moscow was committed to resolving the crisis using peaceful means, the Kremlin said, Anadolu Agency quoted by Mi’raj islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Leaders of pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk province said on Tuesday that they would not give up the fight for independence despite the cease-fire deal agreed on September 5.

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The agreement – which is being monitored by Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE – is comprised of an immediate cease-fire in the region; the monitoring of the truce by the OSCE; the adoption of decentralizing laws by Ukraine; the distribution of more power to the regional administration in Donetsk and Luhansk and the holding of early elections in the cities.

The two secessionist eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk unilaterally declared independence from Ukraine following a controversial Moscow-backed referendum on May 11.

More than 3,000 people have been killed in the conflict in the region, according to the United Nations. (T/P001/R03)

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Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)