One month in, Ukraine truce exists in name only as fighting rages on

Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatist fighters marked one month on Sunday since the signing of a Kremlin-backed truce with one of the most heated battles of the six-month war in the ex-Soviet state’s eastern rustbelt. Ukraine says 75 soldiers and civilians have been killed since the official cease-fire on Sept. 5. Its military says Kiev will not start pulling back forces until rebels stop firing on its positions, including at the airport. On Sunday, a military spokesman said rebels had launched two more airport attacks “with support of tanks” over the past 24 hours, but were repelled. Two soldiers died over the same period, he added.

Peace has been signed but guns are the only power that can decide here.

Donetsk resident Olga, 42

Despite the continuing carnage, however, both sides have stopped short of declaring the truce null. Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have even created a monitoring contact group together with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to patrol the front line. Analysts said that Kiev is interested in keeping the semblance of peace in part due to the campaign season ahead of snap parliamentary polls on Oct. 26 called by President Petro Poroshenko, who is keen to see as many eastern cities as possible participate. Moscow would not be eager to pronounce the cease-fire dead either, said one political analyst, explaining that “for Russia, it pays to keep destabilizing the situation in Ukraine.”