14 February 2015, 08:44 GMT
DONETSK (Sputnik) – The lawmakers of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) in eastern Ukraine have approved a number of measures for the implementation of the Minsk agreements on Ukrainian reconciliation, the parliament’s chairman said Saturday.
“They approved it,” Andrei Purgin told journalists, answering a question whether the document was ratified.
According to Purgin, a working group for the implementation of Minsk agreements will be formed later on Saturday. The group will work closely with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), he said.
On Thursday, the Contact Group, comprising envoys from Moscow, Kiev, self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics and the OSCE, signed a peace deal aimed at ending the conflict in southeastern Ukraine. The deal was agreed upon by leaders of Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine after 16-hour talks in Minsk, the capital of Belarus.
The measures include a ceasefire between Kiev forces and independence supporters in eastern Ukraine, the creation of a buffer zone between the two sides through the withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the region and an all-for-all prisoner exchange.
The ceasefire comes into force at midnight local time on February 15 (February 14, 22:00 GMT).
