Truce Agreed in Ukrainian Town As European Leaders Propose New Peace Plan
Local Editor
Convoys of buses arrived in Ukraine's frontline town of Debaltseve on Friday to take besieged civilians to safety after both sides agreed a brief humanitarian truce.
Around 25 buses from both the Ukrainian and pro-Russian separatist sides drove into the shattered strategic town that has been the centre of fighting in recent days.
"They have agreed a truce for Friday in the area around Debaltseve for the evacuation of the civilian population," Ukraine interior ministry official Vyacheslav Abroskin said.
The town is a key railway hub between the two rebel strongholds of Lugansk and Donetsk that the separatists have been pounding with artillery for days, while Ukrainian forces retain control of one road out that has also been targeted.
Amnesty International said earlier this week that most of the town's former population of 25,000 had fled, but that around 7,000 civilians remained trapped.
Ukrainian Major General Oleksandr Rozmaznin said that the truce around the town that rebels have almost encircled would last from 0600-0800 GMT and from 1200-1600 GMT on Friday.
The truce comes as European leaders are set to take a new peace plan to Moscow.
According to the information, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande did not consult Washington before deciding to visit Moscow to hold talks on the Ukrainian crisis.
The two leaders, who are part of the so-called ‘Normandy Four' group along with Moscow and Kiev, decided on a trip on Wednesday night, an unnamed French government official said. Merkel and Hollande are due to arrive to the Russian capital on Friday, the next day after visiting Kiev.
"Together with Angela Merkel we have decided to take a new initiative," Hollande told a news conference on Thursday.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that "the leaders of the three states will discuss what specifically the countries can do to contribute to speedy end of the civil war in the southeast of Ukraine, which has escalated in recent days and resulted in many casualties."
After the Thursday meeting with the German and French leaders, Ukrainian President Poroshenko said that the talks indicated that a ceasefire was possible in eastern Ukraine.
Meanwhile, a senior French official told local weekly Le Nouvel Observateur on Thursday that the decision to meet tet-a-tet with President Vladimir Putin was taken on Tuesday after the Russian leader called on both sides in the Ukrainian conflict to stop military actions and hostilities.
The French weekly also said that this "historic initiative" on the part of the two European leaders was preceded by "secret" talks between Paris, Berlin and Moscow.
As Hollande and Merkel are set to discuss a peaceful resolution to the conflict, the US Secretary of State John Kerry is in Ukraine to answer Kiev's plea for weapons. Kerry told reporters that US President Barack Obama will make his decision on the possibility of sending lethal aid to Ukraine next week.
The White House however admitted on Thursday that military assistance from the US could increase bloodshed in the region.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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