Putin says Ukraine, rebels agree to cease-fire deal

MINSK, Belarus (CBS) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday morning that Ukraine's government and pro-Russian rebels had reached a deal for a ceasefire to begin at midnight Saturday, bringing tentative hopes that the fighting which has raged for months and left thousands dead might finally ease over the weekend.Putin said the deal hammered out during more than 15 hours of talks between himself, the rebels, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, and the German and French leaders also declared a division line for withdrawing heavy weapons from the warzone in eastern Ukraine.Meanwhile, both rebels and government troops reported ongoing fighting across eastern Ukraine. The conflict has claimed more 5,300 lives since April.Previous cease-fire agreements have come and gone in eastern Ukraine with little lasting effect, and it remained unclear Thursday how much will there was on the either side to stick by the terms of the new deal. European leaders had warned there was no guarantee a deal would be reached with Moscow, which the West says is fueling the insurgency with troops and arms. Germany and France rushed to mediate after a surge in fighting this year.Amid the escalation of violence in recent months, President Obama signaled early this month that he was reconsidering his long-held view that arming Ukrainian troops to help them take on the Russian-backed separatists would only result in a more deadly conflict. President Obama said Monday that although he has asked his advisers to look at all options to stop the Russian incursion into Ukraine, he has not yet decided whether to supply the Ukrainian military with lethal weapons, and the U.S. would continue to pursue a diplomatic resolution to the crisis in the meantime."Now it is true that if in fact diplomacy fails, what I've asked my team to do is to look at all options, what other means can we put in place to change Mr. Putin's calculus, and the possibility of lethal defensive weapons is one of those options that is being examined. But I have not made a decision about that yet," Mr. Obama said at a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.Merkel, her French counterpart Francois Hollande and other European leaders have made it clear they do not believe military intervention or adding more weapons to the crisis in eastern Ukraine can bring peace, and that diplomacy is the only way out of the crisis.On Wednesday, a top U.S. military commander in Europe said the U.S. military was planning in March to start training Ukrainian soldiers who are battling the separatists.U.S. Army Europe Commander Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges said a battalion of U.S. soldiers would train three battalions of Ukrainians from the Interior Ministry at the Yavariv training center in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.Follow us on Twitter @Local12 and LIKE us on Facebook for updates!