Roundup: Tusk says Minsk deal of ceasefire "must be respected", no talks on Greece at EU summit

European Council President Donald Tusk said on late Thursday the Minsk deal of ceasefire in eastern Ukraine must be respected after an informal summit meeting of the European Union (EU) in Brussels.

"We give it cautious support. Words put down on paper must translate into real deeds. The cease fire must be respected, we must see a real deescalation of the conflict," Tusk said in the press conference following the meeting.

Tusk said the leaders' debate focus on how to support the implementation of the agreement and the EU "will not hesitate to take necessary steps" if the Ukraine peace pact were not implemented.

Tusk said the reason for the feeling of "very cautious" is the bad experience with so called Minsk one which was "not respected".

Tusk also noted that the EU leaders didn't discuss any new sanctions nor about the decision to postpone the sanctions.

"I hope our pressure can encourage Russia to implement the second Minsk agreement," Tusk added.

The latest Minsk agreement of cease-fire, announced after more than 14 hours of discussions through the night in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, offered a flicker of peace hope for eastern Ukraine.

It requires continued efforts and cooperation by all parties to ensure that the new Minsk deal will not suffer the same fate as the previous one signed in September last year.

"This is glimmer of hope, no more no less," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters at arrival of the summit.

"There are still major hurdles lying ahead" and "concrete steps" must be taken, she warned.

The document, inked by all parties that signed the Minsk Protocol and the Minsk Memorandum on Sept. 5 and Sept. 19, 2014, is a package of measures aimed at the implementation of the Minsk agreements, which French President Francois Hollande called "a relief for Europe" and "a hope for Ukraine."

Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters after the marathon talks that he had called on the conflicting parties to show restraint in order to avoid unnecessary casualties.

On the same day, the International Monetary Fund announced 17.5 billion euors (20 billion U.S. dollars) in fund assistance to Ukraine, and the World Bank said it would provide Ukraine with up to 2 billion euros in support in 2015, with assistance focused on aiding the poor, supporting reforms and fighting corruption.

EU diplomats are reported as saying that the international creditors had used the financial package to press Poroshenko into accepting the peace terms.

Merkel and Hollande agreed to trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine, and the EU on energy issues and Russian gas supplies and the EU-Ukraine free trade agreement, and also agreed on joint monitoring of and negotiations over the peace pact.

NO TALKS ON GREEK DEBT ISSUE

Meanwhile, Tusk told the press conference the EU leaders didn't enter into negotiations of the Greek debt issue in the day's informal summit meeting.

He said Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem had ask the institutions (the Troika) to work on the technical assessment.

"This is to establish the common ground before the Eurogroup meet next Monday," he added.

A spokeswoman for Dijsselbloem told reporters on the same day Greek authorities will likely to meet the troika on Friday in Brussels to seek common ground between the current program and the Greek government's program.

"Seen from where we were yesterday, this is quite a success," another EU official said.

Meanwhile, Tsipras expressed confidence on arrival at the summit of EU leaders that Athens and eurozone governments would be able to find a mutually viable solution for Greece's debt problems.

After seven hours of talks on Greece's debt crisis on Wednesday, eurozone finance ministers were unable to reach a joint statement on the next steps. Endit