Ukraine on Tuesday signed much-anticipated accords with separatists from the country's east,
Russia and European monitors that agree a local
election can be held in separatist-controlled territory, paving the way for peace talks with Moscow.
The signing at a meeting in the Belarusian capital of Minsk was largely seen as the new Ukrainian government taking a major step toward resolving the prolonged armed conflict in eastern
Ukraine that has killed more than 13,000 people and displaced more than 1 million since 2014.
Ukrainian nationalists protested the development, with hundreds gathering on Kyiv's Maidan, the square that symbolizes Ukraine's resistance to
Russian influence.