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Sunday 6 September 2015 - 13:25

Ukraine president praises ceasefire in the east

Story Code : 484351
Ukraine president praises ceasefire in the east
Poroshenko said Saturday that the current week is the first in the conflict when no soldier has been killed in fighting with pro-Russia forces in the east, although soldiers had died in other incidents.
 
He said shelling had not stopped completely but the number of artillery strikes has dropped from up to 200 a day to just a few now.
 
Both sides to the Ukrainian conflict pledged last week to finally implement a truce starting September 1.
 
Despite a ceasefire having been declared in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, by the leaders of Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia in February 2015, artillery strikes from both sides were still a daily occurrence. 
 
The Ukrainian conflict between Kiev troops and pro-Russia forces started in April 2014 and raged for several months until the two sides agreed on a ceasefire on September 5, 2014, dubbed Minsk I. However, the ceasefire was violated frequently by both sides, who kept shelling one another.
 
The ceasefire required that a buffer zone be set up, that both sides pull back heavy weapons, that they free all hostages and illegally detained prisoners, and that a constitutional deal on the future of the pro-Russia cities of Donetsk and Luhansk be reached by the end of 2015.
 
The military conflict in eastern Ukraine has left more than 6,800 dead.
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