News Digest

Ukraine ceasefire threatened by shelling near Mariupol

Explosions have been heard near the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol on Saturday evening, just a day after the government and rebels agreed a ceasefire agreement. Numerous explosions were heard and a thick smoke was visible on the horizon. A checkpoint held by Ukraine loyalists seemed to be on fire, according to AFP journalists close to the scene. AFP reported seeing three Ukrainian tanks initially heading towards the checkpoint before then turning round. Dozens of cars were seen heading away from where the explosions took place. The Red Cross said aid trucks heading for the rebel-held city of Luhansk had turned back because of shelling.

The ceasefire’s terms are not being observed.

Vladimir Makovich, a leading member self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic

The Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed on Saturday in a phone call that the truce “was generally being observed”. Vladimir Makovich, a leading member of the “parliament” established by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, said Ukrainian units had fired several missiles towards rebel positions on the outskirts of the main insurgent bastion of Donetsk just three hours after the truce came into effect at 1500 GMT on Friday. 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.