Putin Announces Ukraine Ceasefire

After a marathon 17-hour talk, Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany finally reached a ceasefire deal for eastern Ukraine on Thursday. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced during a press conference that the ceasefire will begin Sunday and heavy weapons will be withdrawn. “We have agreed on a ceasefire from midnight 15 February,” Putin announced. “The second point that I believe to be extremely important is the withdrawal of heavy weapons from today’s line of contact for Ukrainian troops and from the line stipulated in the 19 September Minsk agreements for Donbass rebels.” He added, “There is also the political settlement. The first thing is constitutional reform that should take into consideration the legitimate rights of people who live in Donbass. There are also border issues. Finally, there are a whole range of economic and humanitarian issues." Still, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the deal a “glimmer of hope,” adding that “there is very, very much work still to do.”