Ukraine: rebels and government troops to retreat following peace deal

Agreement calls for creation of a 30km (19 mile) buffer zone between opposing sides with each moving its troops back by 15km

Ukraine's troops are on the front line of battle for the free world, Petro Poroshenko said

Pro-Russian rebels and government forces in Ukraine are expected to retreat from frontline positions on Saturday after a new peace plan was signed following overnight talks.

The nine-point agreement envisages the creation of a 30km (19 mile) buffer zone between the opposing sides, with each moving its troops back by 15km.

Representatives of Russia, Ukraine, the separatists and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) reached the deal.

A ceasefire between the two warring sides signed on September 5 in Minsk, Belarus, has held despite frequent and serious violations, including shelling that caused numerous civilian deaths.

The new agreement, also reached in Minsk, demands that artillery units should pull back out of range and places a ban on flights by combat aircraft over the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine. It also prohibits the laying of new minefields. OSCE teams will monitor the demilitarised zone, which must be set up within 24 hours of the agreement being signed.

While the plan provides an avenue to calm the hostilities, it does not address the status of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions where pro-Russian separatists have set up two "people's republics" free from Kiev's rule.

Analysts say the war looks increasingly like it will settle into a "frozen conflict" - like other de facto independent but largely unrecognised territories in the former Soviet Union such as Abkhazia in Georgia and Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan.

Ukraine's parliament approved a "special status" for the regions last week that would give them temporarily a degree of self-rule, including the right to elect local government bodies, recruit police from militia and cultivate ties with Russia.

Alexander Zakharchenko, the prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, who took part in the marathon overnight talks in Minsk, said he was satisfied with the outcome but the sides had agreed not to discuss the status issue.

"We each have our own understanding of [Kiev's] law on special status," he told reporters. "These are issues for future negotiations that will last another year."

Nearly 3,000 people have died in eastern Ukraine since Russian-patronised separatists launched a bid for autonomy in April. Moscow and the rebels admit that Russian volunteers are fighting on the separatist side but deny persistent accusations from Kiev and the West that Russian regular soldiers are taking part. That flies in the face of numerous reports about Russian servicemen dying in the conflict zone.

Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine's president, asked the United States for weapons to fight the rebels during a visit to Washington last week. The US did not agree but approved a $53m (£32.5m) package of non-lethal aid.

By Tom Parfitt