| The Hindu | - |
After
more than four months of bloodshed, a ceasefire in Ukraine's rebellious
east largely held back fighting on Saturday, but appeared fragile as
both sides of the conflict claimed the others had violated the
agreement.
Ukraine ceasefire appears to holds
International » World
KIEV, September 7, 2014
Updated: September 7, 2014 00:54 IST
Kiev, rebels hold fire
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After more than four months of bloodshed, a ceasefire in Ukraine’s
rebellious east largely held back fighting on Saturday, but appeared
fragile as both sides of the conflict claimed the others had violated
the agreement.
A statement from Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s appeared to make
a glancing reference to the ceasefire’s tentativeness, saying said he
and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed steps “for giving the
ceasefire a stable character” in a telephone conversation on Saturday.
But, it said, both leaders assessed the ceasefire as having been “fulfilled as a whole.”
Col. Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s National Security
Council, told reporters that rebels had fired at Ukrainian forces on 10
occasions after the ceasefire was to take effect, but all the incidents
he detailed were on Friday night.
Alexander Zakharchenko, the top separatist leader from Donetsk, told the
Russian news agency RIA Novosti that the ceasefire had been violated
with two rounds of shelling in the town of Amvrosiivka, about 50 km
southeast of Donetsk.
“At this time the ceasefire agreement is not being fully observed,” he
said. He didn’t say when the supposed breach was to have occurred.
Ukraine, Russia and the Kremlin-backed separatists signed the ceasefire
deal on Friday in Minsk, the Belarusian capital, in an effort to end
more than four months of fighting in the region. Western leaders voiced
scepticism over Russia’s commitment to the truce. Both the U.S. and the
European Union have prepared even tougher sanctions on Moscow, and
President Obama stressed that the most effective way to ensure the
ceasefire’s success was to move ahead with those measures and maintain
pressure on Russia.
In a statement published online Saturday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry
condemned further EU sanctions and promised that “there will undoubtedly
be a reaction from our side” to any new measures.
In August, Russia passed a sweeping ban on meat, fruit, vegetables, and
dairy product imports from the EU, the U.S. and a host of other
countries who imposed sanctions on Russia.
Keywords: Ukraine civil war, Ukraine ceasefire talks, Mariupol offensive, eastern Ukraine violence, pro-Russian separatists
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