Updated on 06:27 p.m. Moscow Time
KIEV, September 5 (RIA Novosti) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko confirmed Friday the signing of a preliminary protocol to a ceasefire agreement.
“A preliminary protocol to the ceasefire agreement was signed in Minsk. This protocol will come into force Friday,” Poroshenko wrote on his Twitter account.
The president has already ordered the Ukrainian military to cease fire.
“Based on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s call to illegal armed formations of Donbas to cease fire and the signing of the protocol… I give a formal order to cease fire,” Poroshenko said in a statement, published on his website.
The Ukrainian leader called for strict observance of the agreements reached in Minsk, including release of prisoners.
“I expect that these agreements, including the ceasefire and the release of prisoners, will be strictly observed,” the president said.
Poroshenko then called on both the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and the OSCE to provide international monitoring of compliance with the bilateral ceasefire.
“I also instruct the foreign minister of Ukraine together with the OSCE to ensure efficient international control over the compliance with the ceasefire regime,” the statement reads.
The truce agreement comes into force starting 6 p.m. local time (15:00 GMT).
Representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics have already confirmed the ceasefire agreement.
Representatives of official Kiev, Ukrainian southern regions, Russia and the OSCE met Friday in the Belarusian capital of Minsk in an attempt to end the bloodshed in eastern Ukraine.
On Wednesday, the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko, in a phone conversation discussed the first steps to be taken to bring an end to the bloodshed in southeastern Ukraine.
Following the conversation with his counterpart, President Putin laid out a seven-point plan that could help find a solution. The plan called on Kiev to withdraw troops from southeastern regions of the country and militia to cease military advances.
