A first Minsk Agreement between Russia, Ukraine, the OSCE, and representatives of the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk had been mediated in 2014 by France and Germany in order to stop the Donbas War between armed Russian separatists aided by Russian regular forces and the Ukrainian armed forces. The agreement was signed on September 5, 2014 but failed to end the fighting. Renewed negotiations, once again brokered by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande, took place in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. These produced a “package of measures for the implementation of the Minsk agreements,” including a ceasefire, withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line, release of prisoners of war, constitutional reform in Ukraine granting self-government to certain areas of Donbas and restoring control of the state border to the Ukrainian government. This video from public broadcaster ARD reports on the signing of the second Minsk agreement after 16 hours of negotiations on February 12, 2015. However, fighting never ceased completely and after tensions once again rose between Russia and Ukraine in early 2022, Russia formally recognized the Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. Russian President Vladimir Putin then declared the Minsk Agreements invalid and finally launched a full invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.