KIEV, November 5 (RIA Novosti) – The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Wednesday confirmed their commitment to agreements reached in Minsk in September, including the ceasefire deal with the eastern Ukraine self-defense forces.
"The protocol, signed in Minsk on September 5 and the memorandum signed in Minsk on September 19 remain in force, so the ceasefire remains in place as well," council spokesman Andriy Lysenko told reporters Wednesday.
"The president, though, has ordered the strengthening of checkpoints with hardware as well as with personnel," he added.
President Petro Poroshenko convoked the council Tuesday to discuss Sunday's elections in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics (DPR and LPR), which Kiev says violate the Minsk reconciliation agreements.
At the meeting, the council backed the Ukrainian leader's initiative to abolish the law on the special status of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. On Wednesday, representatives for the DPR and LPR said abrogating the special status law would mean a violation of the Minsk agreement, which therefore needs to be revised.
During the meeting in Minsk on September 5, representatives of Kiev and southeastern Ukraine's independence supporters signed the Minsk Protocol, stipulating a ceasefire between the sides. The document also obliged Kiev to adopt a law on the special status of its breakaway regions. On September 19, the sides also devised a nine-point memorandum, specifying the conditions of the ceasefire.
