KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — The presidents of Ukraine and Russia say the cease-fire between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed rebels is mostly holding.
The truce still appears fragile, however, with both sides claiming violations.
A spokesman for Ukraine’s national security council says rebels fired at Ukrainian forces on 10 occasions last night after the cease-fire was to take effect. Meanwhile, a top separatist leader says Ukraine’s forces violated the cease-fire with two rounds of shelling southeast of Donetsk.
But Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says he and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed steps “for giving the cease-fire a stable character” in a telephone conversation today. In a statement, Poroshenko’s office says both leaders assessed the cease-fire as having been “fulfilled as a whole.”
A separate Kremlin statement about the call says there was “mutual satisfaction” that the combtatants are “overall observing” the cease-fire.
%@AP Links
131-c-20-(Peter Leonard, AP correspondent)-“to the east”-AP correspondent Peter Leonard reports he saw, as he traveled between major zones of engagement, an uneasy cease-fire holding between separatists and Ukrainian troops. (6 Sep 2014)
<
132-c-22-(Peter Leonard, AP correspondent)-“of deep apprehension”-AP correspondent Peter Leonard reports government and separatist troops are separated near the southeast coast by about 12 miles with a strangely quiet no man’s land between the two sides. (6 Sep 2014)
<
133-c-21-(Peter Leonard, AP correspondent)-“gone fairly quiet”-AP correspondent Peter Leonard reports the lull in fighting near the coast is a stark contrast to what he heard and witnessed on the Ukrainian military side of the fighting just a day before. (6 Sep 2014)
<
134-r-22-(Sound of Andriy Lysenko (AHN’-dree LEE’-sehn-kuh), spokesman, Ukrainian National Security Council, with reporters)–Sound of Andriy Lysenko of the Ukrainian National Security Council saying that Ukraine’s aim is to release “all our captured men,” adding that Kiev is ready to accept conditions that break no laws. (6 Sep 2014)
<
135-r-16-(Sound of Andriy Lysenko (AHN’-dree LEE’-sehn-kuh), spokesman, Ukrainian National Security Council, with reporters)–Sound of Andriy Lysenko of the Ukrainian National Security Council saying that rebels had fired at Ukrainian forces after the cease-fire took effect, possibly “to provoke the Ukrainian military into firing.” (6 Sep 2014)
<
APPHOTO XSG105: A burned Ukrainian army tank is seen near a destroyed kindergarten in the village of Kominternove, Ukraine, Saturday, Sept. 6, 2014. After four months of war, eastern Ukraine begins the first full day of an uncertain cease-fire. The truce agreement calls for an exchange of prisoners and establishment of humanitarian corridors, but how quickly those actions will begin is unclear. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) (6 Sep 2014)
<
APPHOTO XSG101: A soldier’s boot lies near a destroyed Ukrainian army tank near the village of Lebedynske, on the highway joining Mariupol and Novoazovsk, Ukraine, Saturday, Sept. 6, 2014. After four months of war, eastern Ukraine begins the first full day of an uncertain cease-fire. The truce agreement calls for an exchange of prisoners and establishment of humanitarian corridors, but how quickly those actions will begin is unclear. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) (6 Sep 2014)
<
APPHOTO XSG104: A destroyed Ukrainian army tank is seen near the village of Lebedynske, on the highway joining Mariupol and Novoazovsk, Saturday, Sept. 6, 2014. After four months of war, eastern Ukraine begins the first full day of an uncertain cease-fire. The truce agreement calls for an exchange of prisoners and establishment of humanitarian corridors, but how quickly those actions will begin is unclear.(AP Photo/Sergei Grits) (6 Sep 2014)
<
APPHOTO XSG107: An abandoned Ukrainian army tank is seen in the village of Kominternove , Ukraine, Saturday, Sept. 6, 2014. After four months of war, eastern Ukraine begins the first full day of an uncertain cease-fire. The truce agreement calls for an exchange of prisoners and establishment of humanitarian corridors, but how quickly those actions will begin is unclear. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) (6 Sep 2014)
< Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
