Ukrainian military, LPR agree on ceasefire from Dec 5
According to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) representatives, the sides arrived at this decision in consultations within the framework of the operation of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination [of the ceasefire regime].
“On 29 November, in Lugansk, the SMM was present at a meeting of the head of the Ukrainian contingent to the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC), Lt Gen Askarov; the head of the Russian Representation in south-east Ukraine, Lt Gen Lentsov; and members of the “LPR”. Participants continued to dispute aspects of the disengagement phase of the Generals’ plan of 13 November,” the document says. “Nonetheless, all agreed in principle to a total ceasefire along the entire line of contact between Ukrainian Armed Forces and those under control of the “LPR”, to be effective from 5 December,” the observers said.
“Members of the “LPR” insisted that they were in control of all Cossack units and that these units, too, would adhere to this proposal. They also agreed that the withdrawal of heavy weapons would start on 6 December.”
The observers reported in mid-November that representatives of the JCCC agreed on the draft schedule for the withdrawal of troops from the area of the conflict in the east of Ukraine. The plan provides for three stages - a two-day truce, the withdrawal of heavy weapons within five days and separation of the forces along the contact line in accordance with the Minsk memorandum within 21 days.
Representatives of Ukraine, the Russian Federation, the Donetsk People`s Republic (DPR), and the Lugansk People`s Republic (LPR) signed the Minsk Protocol, an agreement to halt the war in the Donbass region of Ukraine, on 5 September 2014. It was signed after extensive talks in Minsk, Belarus, under the auspices of the Organiation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. The agreement, which followed multiple previous attempts to stop fighting in the Donbass, implemented an immediate ceasefire.