A ceasefire between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine appeared to be holding yesterday evening, despite some initial shelling in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk.
However, many residents and combatants were sceptical that the ceasefire could last long or turn into a basis for a durable peace settlement after six months of conflict.
The two sides remain far apart on the future of the region.
The ceasefire was approved by envoys from Ukraine, the separatist leadership, Russia and Europe’s OSCE security watchdog meeting in Minsk as part of a peace road map that also includes an exchange of prisoners and the creation of a humanitarian corridor for refugees and aid.
Minutes after the ceasefire started, three blasts were heard off Donetsk
Minutes after the ceasefire began at 1500 GMT, three blasts were heard north of Donetsk, followed by scattered mortar and artillery fire, but this later fell quiet. Fighting had raged for much of the day in two flashpoints in eastern Ukraine – near the strategic port of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov and further north in Donetsk, mostly around the city’s airport which still remains in the government’s hands.
Kiev says its forces have been trying to repel a big offensive by the rebels to take Mariupol, whose port is crucial to Ukraine’s steel exports. It stands about halfway between Russia and the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Ukrainian commanders denied claims made by separatist that separatist forces had managed to enter Mariupol yesterday.
Mariupol became a major focus of concern for Ukraine after the rebels broke out of their main strongholds further north in late August – backed, Kiev says, by Russian regular forces.
Russia denies sending troops and weapons into Ukraine, despite what Nato says is overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
A Ukrainian military spokesman told a daily news briefing in Kiev that about 2,000 Russian servicemen had been killed so far in the Ukraine conflict.
There was no way of confirming the figure independently.
The United Nations recently put the total death toll in the conflict to date at more than 2,600.
People in the worst affected areas of eastern Ukraine were glad of the respite from almost daily shelling and shooting after the ceasefire began, but few expected it to last.