The adoption of a memorandum calling for an unconditional halt of military operations in eastern Ukraine concluded a peace conference on the Ukraine crisis held in Kosice in eastern Slovakia on Saturday.

The declaration emphasised a need of observing the Minsk ceasefire agreement as well as refraining from aggressive rhetoric in politics, media and social life on both sides of the conflict.

The memorandum also supported the deployment of OSCE's Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine and agreed with the creation of a framework for peremptory humanitarian aid to the regions affected.

"Participants of this event unconditionally endorse the peace agreement from Minsk, and based on this agreement they have decided to formulate this memorandum," announced chair of German-Ukrainian Forum Rainer Lindner.

The Roads to Peace conference was initiated by the German-Russian Forum and the German-Ukrainian Forum in association with the Bratislava-based ASA Institute (Analyses-Strategies-Alternatives Institute), under the auspices of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.