Ukraine, Russia agree to retrieve small caliber weapons

Russia and Ukraine have agreed to call for the pullback of smaller caliber weapons from the front lines in eastern Ukraine as part of a fresh push to end the region’s yearlong conflict.
Foreign ministers from the two countries meeting with their French and German counterparts in Berlin also agreed to support international monitors and establish four working groups to address the most pressing issues faced by people in the embattled region, where Russian-backed separatists are fighting Ukrainian government forces.
The meeting took place on Monday amid fresh clashes in the Donetsk area and near the village of Shyrokyne, by the Azov Sea.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who hosted the meeting, insisted afterward that the parties had no alternative but to abide by agreements forged in the Belarusian capital Minsk in February and September.
“Everyone knows that we have a long path ahead of us,” Steinmeier told reporters shortly after midnight. “But we’re going to do everything we can to continue this process.”