German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Saturday urged the Ukrainian government and the opposition to respect a peace deal agreed a day earlier to end the ex-Soviet country's worst crisis since independence.

"It is now up to the two sides in the conflict -- the government as well as the opposition -- to stick to what was agreed and to begin building a relationship of trust," he said in a statement, as the regime of President Viktor Yanukovych appeared close to collapse after months of protests.