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OSCE says truce in E. Ukraine generally observed

Xinhua, March 13, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which monitors situation in eastern Ukraine, said Thursday that the truce was holding in most areas along the frontline of the conflict zone.

"There is an overall decrease in the intensity of fighting. The ceasefire is generally being observed," Alexander Hug, the deputy chief monitor of the OSCE special monitoring mission to Ukraine, told reporters in Kiev.

Sporadic clashes still occur around Donetsk airport and near Shyrokyne village in Mariupol direction, Hug said, adding that the warring sides use mostly small caliber weapons during the confrontation.

Both sides of the conflict confirmed that the truce was largely holding, but once again accused each other of ceasefire violations.

Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council said the government troops had come under fire for 50 times in the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the pro-independence rebels said that the Ukrainian forces launched an assault against them near Shyrokyne using mortars and tanks.

A government military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said the Ukrainian army incurred no losses in the past day and there were also no reports about civilian or rebel casualties.

The ceasefire came into force in the restive eastern regions in mid-February under a peace deal reached in Minsk, the capital of Belarus during talks involving leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France. Endite