Ukraine peace talks yield buffer zone and agreement to withdraw foreign troops

Kiev and pro-Russian separatists on Saturday signed a deal to create a demilitarised zone in conflict-torn eastern Ukraine after fresh talks aimed at ending a brutal five-month war. Face-to-face talks began on Friday evening in the Belarussian capital of Minsk and ended seven hours later with an agreement to create the buffer zone and withdraw all foreign fighters and weapons from the area. Former Ukraine president Leonid Kuchma was Kiev’s representative at the meeting. UN figures show that almost 2,900 people have lost their lives since the separatists unleashed their uprising against Kiev in April.

We have signed a memorandum.

Ukraine’s former president Leonid Kuchma

Under the deal, both sides agreed to pull back heavy weapons by 15 kilometres (nine miles) from their point of contact, thereby creating a buffer zone of “at least 30 kilometres wide”, said Kuchma. The OSCE would monitor the area, he said, adding that both sides also agreed to remove “all foreign armed groups, military equipment, fighters and mercenaries” from the zone. Igor Plotinitsky, the leader of the self-declared breakaway Lugansk People’s Republic, said the agreement should lead to the creation of “a zone of complete security”.

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