BASEL: Ukraine’s foreign minister said on Friday that his war-torn country needed a ‘real’ ceasefire, a day after Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels agreed on a fresh truce starting on Dec 9.

Ukraine needs “a ceasefire not in name, but ceasefire in substance,” Pavlo Klimkin told reporters in Switzerland on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) focused on the crisis in his country.

“It’s about delivery for me. It’s not about promises, it’s about real delivery on the ground. It’s what we do and not what we say,” he said.

Shortly after Klimkin spoke, Ukraine’s military said in Kiev that six soldiers were killed in the past 24 hours.

On Thursday Kiev and pro-Russian rebels said they had agreed to halt fire next Tuesday, in an unexpected announcement that provided a glimmer of hope that fighting across the eastern rustbelt of the ex-Soviet nation was nearing an end after eight months that saw 4,300 people killed and shattered Moscow’s ties with the West.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday he hoped the latest ceasefire would lead to a final agreement to stop the fighting.

“It is a very difficult situation but I hope parties have come close to concluding a final agreement,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the OSCE meeting.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2014