Ukraine sets new truce date with rebels

Ukraine has announced a truce with pro-Russian rebels
beginning on December 9 under the terms of an agreement
aimed at ending one of Europe’s bloodiest conflicts in
decades.
The announcement on Thursday provides the latest glimmer
of hope that fighting across Ukraine’s eastern region was
nearing to a close after eight months that saw 4,300 people
killed and shattered Moscow’s ties with the West.
The news also comes as members of the Organisation for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) continue
to meet on Friday, in the Swiss port city of Basel
to address the Ukraine crisis.
The truce date disclosed by Ukrainian President Petro
Poroshenko and separatist leaders was apparently agreed
– but never disclosed – with the help of Russian and
European envoys in the Belarussian capital Minsk on
September 5.
Poroshenko said Kiev had prepared “measures that should
ensure the implementation of the Minsk Agreement
concerning a Day of Silence that is due to begin on
December 9.”
A source in Poroshenko’s office said the president’s
statement meant Ukraine would begin withdrawing heavy
weapons from the eastern frontline on December 10 – as
long as the separatists also observed the truce.
The parliament speaker of the self-declared Donetsk
People’s Republic confirmed the latest ceasefire was part
of the Minsk deal.
“The (Minsk) group, which included our and Ukrainian
military officials, as well as OSCE and Russian
mediators, agreed to halt fire on December 9,” Andrei
Purgin told Russia’s RIA Novosti state news agency.
But Purgin refused to say whether he thought this
agreement would hold.