Ukraine truce is ‘mainly holding’ amid reports of sporadic fire

Fighting dropped sharply across eastern Ukraine on Sunday, the first step in a fragile peace plan aimed at ending 10 months of conflict. An elderly man and woman died, however, after Grad missile fire hit the town of Popasna in the Luhansk region some 20 minutes after the truce came into force on Saturday night. The firing came from an area that Kiev says is under the command of a renegade group of Cossack fighters who insist they will not obey rebel chief commands to cease fire. The UN Security Council is expected to meet on Sunday for an emergency session to shore up the Ukraine peace deal, diplomats said.

Yesterday and the day before were hot, they were shooting from here and from there. But today is quiet and calm. All is good.

Donetsk resident Rodion Biralyan, 50

Ukraine’s military said its forces across the conflict zone had come under fire 10 times but that shooting had tailed off after 3am this morning. “In general the situation in east Ukraine appears to be heading towards stabilisation,” military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said. The rebels’ defence ministry said the truce was being “generally respected” but accused Ukraine of shooting around Debaltseve. The latest deal between Ukraine and the rebels is seen as the best hope to stop fighting that has killed over 5,480 people since April.

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