Ukraine: OSCE monitors areas violating ceasefire.

According to AFP, on March 3, Ukraine announced that its leaders, along with France, Germany, and Russia, had agreed to deploy observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to 10 hotspots along the eastern front line to bolster the fragile ceasefire.

According to a statement about the four-way phone call released by the Ukrainian president's office, President Petro Poroshenko, along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, and their Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, "supported Ukraine's proposal to send observers to all areas violating the ceasefire."

Rebel forces fire rockets from a base in the city of Gorlivka, in the eastern Donetsk region, on February 18. (Photo: AFP/VNA)

This monitoring operation will first be carried out at 10 hotspots along the front line: Shchastya, Popasna, Stanitsa Luganska, Krymske, Avdiivka, Volnovakha, Granitne, Luganske, Shyrokine, and Donetsk airport.

Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said the leaders "agreed that the OSCE needs to play a more significant role in monitoring the ceasefire and the withdrawal of weapons." Meanwhile, the French president's office said there was "progress" in imposing a ceasefire.

In a statement, the Kremlin stressed that the leaders "pointed to the importance of strictly adhering to the ceasefire and continuing the withdrawal of heavy weapons," and reminded the OSCE mission to "regularly provide updates" on the monitoring process.

According to VNA