MINSK, Belarus (AP) -- The Ukrainian president declared a cease-fire Friday to end nearly five months of fighting in the nation's east after his representatives reached a deal with the Russian-backed rebels at peace talks in Minsk.<br />
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President Petro Poroshenko said he ordered government forces to stop hostilities at 1500 GMT (11 a.m. EDT) following a protocol signed by representatives of Ukraine, Russia, the rebels and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.<br />
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"Human life is of the highest value. And we need to do everything that is possible and impossible to stop bloodshed and end people's suffering," Poroshenko said in a statement.<br />
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Heidi Tagliavini of the OSCE told reporters the deal in the Belarusian capital focused on 12 separate points but she did not immediately spell them out before heading back into the talks. Poroshenko said a prisoner exchange would begin Saturday and international monitors would keep watch over the cease-fire.<br />
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With the cease-fire deal, Putin may hope to avert a new round of sanctions, which the European Union leaders ordered Friday to be prepared.<br />
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Since mid-April, Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting government troops in eastern Ukraine in a conflict the U.N. estimates has killed nearly 2,600 people.<br />
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Meanwhile, NATO leaders approved plans Friday to create a rapid response force with a headquarters in Eastern Europe that could quickly mobilize if an alliance country in the region were to come under attack. (See separate story. Link below.)
