Members of OSCE Mission control the withdrawal of heavy weapons of pro-Russia separatists from the line of contact with Ukrainian forces near Donetsk on July 19.ALEKSEY FILIPPOV/AFP / Getty Images
Representatives of Russia, Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe reached a long-awaited agreement late Tuesday on the withdrawal of tanks and other weapons from the frontline in eastern Ukraine.
"This is a document that opens a path to peace, a path to an end of violence and attacks," Russian negotiator Azamat Kulmukhametov said.
The deal supplements a broad agreement signed in February aimed at ending the conflict between the Western-aligned Ukrainian government and Russia-backed rebels. Many of its provisions remain unimplemented.
The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany, who negotiated the February agreement, are meeting in Paris on Friday to try to push forward a political settlement for eastern Ukraine, where the fighting has killed more than 8,000 people since it began in April 2014.
To lay the groundwork for that meeting, their foreign ministers met in Berlin on Sept. 12 and afterward expressed hope that the agreement on withdrawing weapons could be signed within days, but the talks dragged on for two weeks.
The cease-fire declared as part of the February agreement was regularly violated by both sides until they declared a new truce on Sept. 1, which has largely held.
The deal reached Tuesday in Minsk, Belarus, by the so-called Contact Group calls for tanks, artillery and also mortars up to 120 mm to be pulled back at least 15 kilometres (9 miles) from the frontline, OSCE negotiator Martin Sajdik said.
He said the withdrawal will begin after the deal is signed by rebel leaders and will take 39 days to complete. Rebel representatives at the talks said their leaders should sign it on Wednesday.
The OSCE will monitor the withdrawal of the weapons, Sajdik said.