Malorossiya project is personal initiative of self-proclaimed republic's leader : Kremlin

The idea of the establishment of a new state Malorossiya is a personal initiative of Alexander Zakharchenko, Head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Russian president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

EU extends Russia sanctions to Jan 2017

The European Union on Friday ­formally extended damaging ­economic sanctions against ­Russia by six months due to a lack of progress in resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Fighting Surges in Ukraine After Kiev Says Rebels Launch Assault

Fighting surged in east Ukraine on Wednesday as Kiev accused pro-Russian forces of launching a "large-scale" attack in breach of a tenuous ceasefire.

Germany says peace plan for Ukraine 'damaged' not dead

Germany condemned the seizure of a strategic east Ukrainian town by pro-Russian rebels on Wednesday as a "massive violation" of a ceasefire, but said it was too early to call the broader Minsk peace plan dead or ratchet up sanctions against Moscow.

West slams leadership votes in east Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has not officially responded to the vote yet.

Pro-Russian separatists in the breakaway Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk went to the polls to choose leaders for their self-proclaimed republics, bringing the rebellion in the country's industrialized east to a climax in a move likely to exacerbate tensions between Russia and the West over the Ukraine crisis.

Alexander Zakharchenko, 38, a mining electrician-turned-rebel leader, on Monday won the election for leadership of the "Donetsk People's Republic (DPR)," the separatists' political and military stronghold in eastern Ukraine.

Russian FM statement on the implementation of the Minsk agreements on a settlement in Ukraine and elections in its southeastern regions

From the Official Website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (Statements and speeches):
 
Considering the ultimatum issued by Kiev and some Western capitals that elections not be held in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, it would be logical to remind the following.
In accordance with the Minsk agreements reached in September this year by representatives of the President of Ukraine and the self-defence forces of southeastern Ukraine with the mediation of Russia and the OSCE, these elections can be held between 19 October and 3 November of this year.

Ukraine: Ban deplores planned holding of November ‘elections’ by rebel groups

UN, 29 October 2014 – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today deplored the planned holding by armed rebel groups in eastern Ukraine of their own “elections” on 2 November, calling the potential polls a “breach of the constitution and national law.”

“These ‘elections’ will seriously undermine the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum, which need to be urgently implemented in full,” Mr. Ban said in a statement issued by his spokesperson in New York.

G-7 Foreign Ministers' Joint Statement on Ukraine (U.S. State Department)

Office of the Spokesperson, New York City, September 25, 2014:

 

The text of the following statement was released by the Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and High Representative of the European Union:

Parties at Minsk Talks Agree on Memorandum Regulating Ukrainian Ceasefire Implementation (MINSK MEMORANDUM, 20.09.14)

Kiev authorities and pro-independence fighters in southeastern Ukraine have agreed on complete ceasefire, establishment of the buffer zone, withdrawal of heavy weapons away from the contact line on both sides, and deployment of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) monitoring mission.

Early Saturday morning parties at the talks in Minsk – Russia, Ukraine, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's republics and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) – aligned positions and formulated a memorandum of nine provisions that will regulate the implementation of a ceasefire agreement between Kiev and independence supporters in eastern Ukraine. Leonid Kuchma, former Ukrainian president representing the country at the talks, read out the provisions of the memorandum at the conclusion of the talks.