Ukraine and Russian-backed rebels in the country's east have agreed to withdraw all remaining heavy weapons and combat equipment from the front line, in a move that a separatist official said could herald “the end of the war”.
The agreement to pull back equipment including tanks and mortars from a 30-km (18.6 mile) buffer zone comes as Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko, the president of Ukraine, prepare to meet in Paris for Franco-German brokered talks on ending the conflict on Friday.