"The [ceasefire] agreement was reached [for the period of Epiphany celebrations]. We [LPR, Kiev] have already exchanged the letters of guarantee," Igor Plotnitsky said.
In September 2014, Kiev authorities and representatives of the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk people's republics met twice in the Belarusian capital Minsk. The talks resulted in reaching a ceasefire agreement between the warring parties. Both sides, however, subsequently accused each other of violating the truce.
On December 9, 2014, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko declared a so-called silence regime in a bid to resume a peace process in the region.
Despite the Minsk ceasefire agreement and the "silence regime," violent clashes in southeastern Ukraine intensified in the first weeks of 2015.
