Truce in eastern Ukraine remains "fragile" -- OSCE

Although a cease-fire regime between government troops and pro-independence rebels in eastern Ukraine is broadly observed, the truce remains shaky amid the presence of heavy weapons near the frontline, European supervisors said Thursday.

"The ceasefire is Donbass is still fragile," Alexander Hug, deputy chief of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) special monitoring mission in Ukraine, told a media briefing in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine.

Hug urged the conflicting sides to engage into a dialogue and immediately complete the withdrawal of their heavy weapons to achieve a comprehensive truce and bring a long-lasting peace to eastern regions.

Both the Ukrainian army and the rebel forces claimed to have already pulled their heavy weapons back from the conflict zone, accusing the other of regrouping their units under the guise of the withdrawal.

The pullout of heavy weapons and the complete cessation of hostilities are a part of a ceasefire deal reached on Feb. 12 in Minsk, the Belarusian capital, to end the violence in eastern Ukraine, which has killed more than 6,000 people since April 2014.

In the past day, there were no confirmed casualties in the conflict. Endite