BREAKING NEWS: Ceasefire

Poroshenko declares ceasefire

Putin, Poroshenko agree on steps to facilitate ceasefire between Kiev & anti-government forces

RT,

3 September, 2014

President Poroshenko had announced a “permanent ceasefire” in east Ukraine. This comes following a phone call with President Putin, which talked of concrete steps to be taken toward ending hostilities in the area.

Although a corresponding message from Poroshenko’s office initially talked of a “permanent ceasefire”, Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov underlined that this wording is not applicable because Russia isn’t a party to the violence.

“In the course of today’s phone call between Putin and Poroshenko there was indeed an exchange of views that went a long way toward an agreement on steps to be taken for a swift end to the clashes taking place between the Ukrainian military and south-eastern uprising,” Peskov said.

But the spokesperson thought it important to point out that because the conflict is an internal one – and not one between two countries. This view has already been voiced by President Putin last week in Minsk, where he met the Ukrainian leader.

“Frankly speaking, we can’t frame the discussion in ceasefire terms, those concerning any possible negotiations between Kiev, Donetsk and Lugansk – this isn’t any of our business, it is Ukraine’s,” the Russian president said then.

Donetsk authorities say they are willing to engage in a diplomatic settlement with Kiev if it proves its commitment to peace by stopping the shelling.

Dmitry Peskov at the Russian president’s press office said the two leaders “have largely agreed” on the measures to be taken for a swift end to the violence.

Kiev’s bloody eastern Ukraine campaign LIVE UPDATES

The confrontation between the anti-government forces and the Ukrainian military, lasting over four months, has claimed the lives of around 2,500 people, according to UN estimates.

A million people have been displaced – the majority of them to Russia.

But the biggest toll was inflicted on the peaceful population in cities like Donetsk and Lugansk, who were left without energy, food, water or connection to the outside world.

While international condemnation was initially aimed at Russia in an attempt to blame it for the escalation, lately the balance has shifted to recognizing the often indiscriminate nature of Ukrainian military shelling of the eastern parts, which used high-powered weaponry forbidden by international law to be used in populated areas.

Human Rights Watch was the latest to condemn such weapons and point to their use as the sole contributing factor to the high death toll in the area.