One Dead as Renewed Fighting Rattles Ukraine Truce

Local Editor

Fighting around two flashpoint cities in eastern Ukraine on Sunday rattled a tenuous truce between government troops and pro-Russian rebels less than 48 hours after it came into force.

Insurgent militias bombarded a government-held checkpoint on the eastern edge of the port city of Mariupol overnight, local officials said, killing one woman and triggering panic among residents.

Artillery fire was also heard near the main rebel stronghold of Donetsk, with the Ukrainian government accusing separatist gunmen of trying to attack the city's airport.

The violence erupted just hours after a phone call between Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who agreed that the ceasefire was "generally being observed".

EU leaders plan to put further pressure on Russia over its so-called support for the insurgents by approving fresh sanctions Monday on its defense and oil companies, although the bloc's President Herman Van Rompuy said these steps could be reviewed "if the ceasefire is durable, and/or if the peace talks start".
The 12-point pact signed in Minsk on Friday was the first to win the backing of both Kiev and Moscow after five months of warfare that set off the deepest crisis in East-West relations for a generation.

But it delays difficult decisions about the status of the two rebel-run regions of Donetsk and Lugansk until later negotiations, which one separatist leader said may begin in about a week.
Mariupol residents have for days been fearful of an insurgent assault in what analysts see as a possible land grab to carve out a corridor between Russia and the Crimean peninsula annexed by Moscow in March.

The situation was calm in the Sea of Azov port city Sunday but several buildings and vehicles were damaged.

The peace deal affords the Donetsk and Lugansk regions "temporary special status" within Ukraine, allowing them to introduce local self-government in certain areas and conduct early local elections.
Although the rebels' demands have varied, ranging from plans to join Russia to accepting only limited autonomy, a top separatist leader from Donetsk said the talks must grant the east a special status that permanently limits Kiev's control over the important industrial base.

The Minsk accord calls on both sides to pull back from major flashpoints and provides for the creation of a border security zone.
An Amnesty report published Sunday accused both sides of war crimes, including indiscriminate shelling, abductions, torture, and killings.

Human Rights Watch also said pro-Moscow rebels had committed "serious violations of the laws of war" by forcing civilians to work in "punishment brigades" on pain of death.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team