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Ukraine crisis: Ceasefire is 'largely holding' | Ukraine crisis: Ceasefire is 'largely holding' |
(35 minutes later) | |
The Ukrainian and Russian presidents have agreed that a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine is "largely holding". | The Ukrainian and Russian presidents have agreed that a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine is "largely holding". |
Ukraine's Petro Poroshenko and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin spoke by phone to discuss steps to make Friday's truce durable. | |
The comments come despite reports of shootings by both pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian government troops. | |
Meanwhile, Russia vowed to respond if the European Union imposed new sanctions over the Ukraine crisis. | |
The EU says the sanctions, targeting more Russian individuals, will be introduced on Monday but could be later suspended if Russia withdraws troops from eastern Ukraine and observes a current truce. | The EU says the sanctions, targeting more Russian individuals, will be introduced on Monday but could be later suspended if Russia withdraws troops from eastern Ukraine and observes a current truce. |
Russia has repeatedly denied accusations by Ukraine and the West that it has been sending regular troops into eastern Ukraine to help the rebels. | Russia has repeatedly denied accusations by Ukraine and the West that it has been sending regular troops into eastern Ukraine to help the rebels. |
Some 2,600 people have died in fighting after pro-Russian rebels seized towns in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions in April - a month after Russia's annexation of the southern Crimean peninsula. | |
'Fighters ambushed' | |
In a statement Mr Poroshenko also said that the two presidents had also stressed the need "to maximise the involvement" of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in monitoring the truce. | |
The two leaders also discussed ways of co-operating in delivering humanitarian aid to the region. | |
In his turn, President Putin said in a statement that an agreement was reached to "continue dialogue". | |
The ceasefire deal was signed during talks between representatives of Ukraine, Russia, the OSCE and the separatist rebels in Minsk, Belarus. | |
The truce came into effect at 15:00 GMT on Friday. | |
There were no reports of major fighting in the east overnight. | |
However, the spokesman for Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, Andriy Lysenko, said on Saturday that the rebels had fired 10 times on Ukrainian troops since the truce. | |
Unconfirmed reports also say a number of fighters from Ukraine's Aydar battalion were ambushed and killed after the ceasefire. | |
Meanwhile, the rebel leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Aleksandr Zakharchenko, said the truce was "not being fully observed" and that rebels had been subjected to shelling in the town of Amvrosiyivka near Donetsk. | |
The BBC's Fergal Keane tweeted from Mariupol that the ceasefire was holding there. | |
A BBC crew that travelled to Donetsk airport on Saturday morning heard a few gunshots and small explosions but residents said the night had been quiet. |