admin
KIEV. — After days of ferocious attacks, a ceasefire went into effect after midnight yesterday in Ukraine, followed by brief accusations of violence. President Petro Poroshenko ordered the Ukrainian military to hold its fire against pro-Russian militants in the nation’s East.
The separatist Donetsk People’s Republic also announced a truce.
The ceasefire aims to end 10 months of violence in eastern Ukraine.
But less than 90 minutes after it started, Ukrainian officials reported mortar shelling at a military post near Zolote in the Luhansk region.
CNN teams in Ukraine said the shelling quieted shortly after midnight.
The “ceasefire is holding,” according to chief monitor Ertugrul Apakan of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
Referring to the first 12 hours of the ceasefire, Apakan said the ceasefire was being respected overall, with some exceptions.
Apakan noted violations in the town of Debaltseve, where an exchange of artillery fire began after the ceasefire was implemented.
In the area around the city of Donetsk, there were reports of a mortar round, three uses of a multiple-launch rocket system and small-arms fire in the first hour of the ceasefire, but the “situation was calm,” the chief monitor said.
There were also violations reported before dawn in the city of Luhansk, he said.
The OSCE mission “calls on all parties to fully adhere to the ceasefire in all locations,” Apakan said. — CNN.
Online Reporter