Ukraine cease-fire reached, along with $40 Billion international aid deal

A new cease-fire is set to begin Sunday in eastern Ukraine, in a deal after 16 hours of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. The leaders of France and Germany helped broker the deal, which calls for a buffer zone free of heavy weapons. News of the temporary peace emerged along with a new international aid plan for Ukraine.

NPR’s Corey Flintoff brings us these details that emerged from the talks in Minsk: “The immediate issues in these talks were stopping the fighting, establishing a security zone between the two sides, and pulling their heavy weapons out of each other’s range. The long-term issues are whether Ukraine will officially recognize the areas where separatists have declared independence, and give those regions power in the central government.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande acknowledged that more work remains to be done, even as they celebrated the temporary peace deal.

“We have now a glimmer of hope,” Merkel said, adding, “I have no illusions, we have no illusions.”

[NPR]

This entry was posted in Humanitarian Aid, International Cooperation by Grant Montgomery.