Jeffrey Sommers

, senior fellow at the University of Wisconsin’s Institute of World Affairs, is “cautiously optimistic” that a deal aimed at ending hostilities in Ukraine’s Donbass region will terminate the nearly yearlong civil war.

Sommers begins speaking at the 2:40 mark in the video.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko agreed Thursday in Minsk, Belarus, that a cease-fire will begin Sunday, heavy weaponry will be pulled out of the area in early March, corridors will be organized for the free mobility of people, prisoners of war will be released, foreign fighters will be withdrawn and military groups disbanded, and constitutional reforms will be effected to provide special status to the Donetsk and the Lugansk regions.

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.

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