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Germany and France see fresh momentum from Ukraine ceasefire

15 September 2016 00:02 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The German and French foreign ministers said on Wednesday an attempt to revive a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine from midnight could set the scene for agreement next week on further peace moves, APA reports quoting Reuters.

Visiting Kiev with his French counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Ukraine had agreed to abide by a new seven-day truce proposed by Russian-backed separatists and explicitly backed by Moscow.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said he also expected both sides to sign an agreement next week to withdraw their troops from the lines of conflict in three hotspots.

"In the next week we see an opportunity for a new dynamic in the conflict," Ayrault told reporters.

The agreement is expected at a regular meeting on Tuesday of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) with both sides in the conflict. It would be monitored and verified by OSCE observers.

A ceasefire was launched to coincide with the start of the school year on Sept. 1. It failed to stop all fighting.

"We are again at a crossroads," Steinmeier told a briefing. "We see a small sliver of hope in the back-to-school ceasefire ... but it is not enough."

If the ceasefire holds and the agreement is signed as expected, the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia could meet in New York next week on the sidelines of a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.

That could prepare the way for a meeting of the leaders of the four "Normandy format" countries for the first time since October 2015.