Contact group on Ukraine in Minsk reaches ceasefire regime agreement

        A session of the contact group on Ukraine took place in Minsk. Participants of the session agreed the scheme for the withdrawal of heavy weapons, reached an agreement on the regime to cease fire and control the fulfillment of the arrangement.
      Members of the contact group also discussed the state structure of Ukraine’s Donetsk region and the holding of local elections.
      The Ukrainian side in negotiations of the contact group was represented by special representative for humanitarian affairs, leader of the public organization Ukrainian Choice Viktor Medvedchuk and Ukraine ex-president Leonid Kuchma. Ukraine’s southeast was represented by plenipotentiary representatives of the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk Denis Pushilin and Vladislav Deinego. OSCE special representative Heidi Tagliavini and Ambassador of Russia to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov also took part in the negotiations.