A new ceasefire and a road map to end the war in Eastern Ukraine was agreed upon by leaders of the major nations namely France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine after an exhaustive and long drawn talks. The talks were almost stalled before it was salvaged by last minute measures taken by the participating players.
Though the agreement has been finalized, things appeared far from being rosy with the major players agreeing that there was more work to be done.
The cease fire will come into effect from Saturday mid night. Though the agreement was made unanimously, the fact that the three leaders used three separate conferences to announce the cease fire showed a lack of unity between the players. Still the fact that the major aggrieved parties are talking after bitter fighting which has lasted for almost a year is heartening.
The negotiations which was described in the words of President François Hollande of France as, “consisted of a long night and a long morning, but we have arrived at an accord on a cease-fire and a global end to the conflict. It is a relief for Europe.”
Mr Hollande further added that the ultimate success of the ceasefire will depend upon the implementation of the terms of the agreement like withdrawal of heavy weapons and border control.
The cease fire talks alternated between surging hopes and despair as the major powers cancelled a meeting to announce the cease fire and extended their talks. After marathon talks which lasted for more than 15 hours between President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine and Mr. Hollande, along with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, the ceasefire agreement was finally agreed upon.
The urgency was further emphasized by the fact that Ms. Merkel and Mr. Hollande were scheduled to address the summit meeting of the European Union in Brussels, which Mr. Poroshenko was also scheduled to address. Both the leaders were keen to have a ceasefire agreement in place since they had committed themselves to make one last ditch effort to secure peace.
