Off the wire
• U.S. stocks slide after record highs  • BiH inflation rises 1.1 pct in Jan.  • Over 2,000 Nepali women run in Nepal to promote healthy lifestyle  • At least 3 killed in land clashes in eastern Kenya  • Roundup: Bangladesh left parties call for strike to protest against gas price hike  • South African stocks close weaker  • European Commission says Portugal could exit excessive deficit procedure  • NATO develops telemedicine system to provide medical services in emergencies  • China, Laos agree to boost cooperation  • French presidential frontrunner Macron promotes "new growth model"  
You are here: 　 Home

Violence on decline in E. Ukraine amid truce: OSCE

Xinhua, February 25, 2017 Adjust font size:

Violence in eastern Ukraine has eased after the conflicting sides declared a new round of truce earlier this week, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said on Friday.

"The security situation has improved. We recorded a decrease in ceasefire violations by 20 percent," Alexander Hug, the deputy chief monitor of the OSCE special monitoring mission to Ukraine, told reporters.

The number of attacks with the use of heavy weapons, including tanks, mortars and artillery, has fallen by almost five-fold, Hug said, noting that despite the positive signs the truce remains fragile given the presence of heavy weapons on both sides of the contact line.

"Without verified withdrawal and disengagement, the process will not work and risk factors underpinning violence will remain," he stressed.

On Monday, the Ukrainian army and pro-independence insurgents started a fresh ceasefire in an effort to implement the Minsk agreement, which also calls for the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the contact line.

More than 30 previous rounds of truce efforts in the almost three-year-old armed conflict have failed, with the two sides accusing each other of ceasefire violations. Endit