Russia Submits Draft UN Resolution Approving Minsk Agreement on Ukraine

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia submitted a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council approving Minsk agreements on Ukrainian reconciliation, and hopes that it will be accepted unanimously, a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry told journalists Saturday.

"Russia has submitted a draft resolution approving the agreements to settle Ukrainian crisis reached in Minsk on February 12 to the UN Security Council. [The draft resolution] aims to support the package of Minsk agreements without any interpretations," the source said.

"We hope that the resolution will be accepted unanimously. A Security Council meeting has been previously scheduled for Sunday," the source 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).