The army repulsed attempts of the Romanians to get a bridgehead on the left bank of the Dniester River and on February 20 launched a counteroffensive. By March 2, Muravjev's troops had defeated the Romanians near Rîbnița and Slobozei. The Romanian Army command, still at war with the Central Powers, proposed a truce. The peace talks were held in Odessa and Iasi. On March 5–9, a joint protocol was signed on the cessation of the Soviet-Romanian armed conflict, under which Romania undertook to withdraw its troops from Bessarabia within two months and not to take any military or hostile action against the RSFSR. On March 8, The Soviet troops received an order to stop their military actions against the Romanian troops. However, the Romanian authorities observed that the Austro-German troops, which had started to occupy the territory of Ukraine on February 18 and which already had taken Kiev and Vinnitsa, would also soon occupy Odessa. Therefore, on March 9, Romania captured Akkerman, violating the reached agreement and completing the seizure of South Bessarabia. A few days later the armistice was annulled.