German foreign minister sees reduction of violence in east Ukraine

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Violence in eastern Ukraine has reduced significantly since a ceasefire deal was agreed in Minsk, Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Monday during a visit to Romania. "A clear beginning was made," he said, according to a Romanian interpreter. "There's a significant reduction of violence after hardships at the beginning. Today, we don't have hundreds of breaches of the ceasefire, there are not many question marks regarding it." Russia and Ukraine have agreed to double the number of OSCE observers to 1,000 from 500 to monitor a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, Steinmeier had said on Friday. (Reporting by Radu Marinas; editing by Matthias Williams)