Rivals agree buffer zone
Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian militias were due to pull back their troops from a demilitarised zone yesterday created under a new peace plan agreed in marathon overnight talks.
A nine-point agreement thrashed out in the early hours of yesterday in the Belarussian capital Minsk also requires the withdrawal of all "mercenaries" from eastern Ukraine and an immediate end to hostilities.
But Russia appeared ready to keep up the pressure on its westward-leaning neighbour by sending in a new convoy it claimed was carrying aid for the rebel-held city of Donetsk that Ukraine never approved.
Former Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma -- representing Kiev throughout stuttering efforts to resolve the five-month conflict -- said the agreement rested on the creation of a 30-kilometre buffer zone.
Forces from both sides are required to retreat 15 kilometres from current frontlines within 24 hours of the signing of the accord and allow monitors from the OSCE pan-European security organisation into the area to make sure the truce holds.
Territory under rebel control would be left open to their administration under a temporary self-rule plan adopted by lawmakers in Kiev tomorrow.
The Minsk pact -- also signed by Moscow's ambassador to Kiev and the self-proclaimed "prime ministers" of the rebel-run regions of Donetsk and Lugansk -- aims to shore up a ceasefire deal agreed two weeks ago.
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