Updated 10:44 p.m. Moscow Time
MILAN, October 17 (RIA Novosti) – The separation line in eastern Ukraine should be finalized as soon as possible in order for the attacks in the region to stop, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday after a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Petro Poroshenko.
"The demarcation line should be finalized, it should be implemented. And that's exactly what will make it possible to stop shelling and the death of innocent civilians," Putin told journalists.
The Russian President stressed that the demarcation, which will pass along the line of contact agreed by the Contact Group on Ukraine on September 19, should be finalized in an urgent manner.
Kiev forces started fighting independence supporters in Ukraine's southeastern regions in mid-April, when Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation in response to the local residents" refusal to recognize the country's new government.
On September 5, a ceasefire agreement was signed between the two sides during a trilateral meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine. On September 19, the Contact Group met again to agree on more details regarding the implementation of the ceasefire.
Among other things, the September 19 memorandum stipulated the creation of a 30-kilometer (approximately 19-mile) buffer zone on the current line of contact between Kiev forces and independence fighters of the self-proclaimed people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk (DPR and LPR).
On October 11, DPR Prime Minister Alexander Zakharchenko confirmed that a demarcation agreement had been signed between Ukrainian independence supporters and Kiev authorities and that the demarcation line would pass along the line of contact between the two sides as of September 19.
