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                Ukraine's Month-old Cease-fire Marked by Battle

   by VOA News

   Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatist fighters on Sunday marked
   one month since the signing of a Kremlin-backed truce with one the most
   heated battles of the six-month war in Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine.

   Ukraine's military accused Russian-backed separatists of fresh
   violations of the cease-fire, saying their forces came under attack in
   several parts of the east including the airport at Donetsk.

   Artillery blasts rocked Donetsk on Sunday morning.

   Ukraine said 75 soldiers and civilians have been killed since the
   cease-fire took effect September 5.

   Airport assault

   On Sunday, military spokesman Volodymyr Polyovy said rebels had
   launched two more airport attacks "with support of tanks" over the past
   24 hours, but were repelled.

   Two Ukrainian service staff were killed in the past 24 hours and six
   others were wounded, Polyovy said in the capital Kyiv, adding: "The
   terrorists are violating the terms of the cease-fire."

   However, both sides have stopped short of declaring the truce null,
   despite the continuing carnage, which has killed more than 3,500 people
   in eastern Ukraine, according to U.N. figures.

   Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is hoping the cease-fire,
   cornerstone of a peace plan signed September 5 to end the conflict,
   will generally hold together for parliamentary elections on Oct. 26.

   Poroshenko called the cease-fire after government troops suffered heavy
   losses that Kyiv attributed to Russian troops reinforcing the
   separatists who want to break away from pro-Western Kyiv's rule.

   Moscow denies its troops have been directly involved in the fighting
   despite what Kyiv and Western government say is incontrovertible proof.

   Truce under pressure

   But the truce has come under great pressure this past week.

   Last Monday, seven Ukrainian troops were killed in a single missile
   strike from a separatist tank and at least 10 people were killed on
   Wednesday when mortar bombs hit a school playground and a public
   transit van nearby.

   In Donetsk on Sunday, where strategic buildings are controlled by
   separatists, a senior rebel official, Eduard Basulin, said  three
   separatist fighters were killed and another 32 wounded in the past 24
   hours, mainly in fighting around Donetsk airport.

   Rebels have been trying for weeks to dislodge government troops from
   the airport, which, with a modernized runway capable of taking heavy
   transporters, has strategic value.

   "The airport is a springboard for the city," Basulin told Reuters. "Our
   main task is to push them (government forces) away from the city so
   that they can no longer shell residential districts. "

   Polyovy said there was also fighting around the towns of Debaltseve and
   Shchastye both farther east toward the border with Russia.

   Civilian deaths

   Basulin said three civilians had also been killed in Donetsk area in
   the past 24 hours and he blamed Ukrainian forces for shelling the
   city's outskirts from positions adjacent to the airport.

   The Ukrainian military denies firing on civilian targets and said it
   only replies to fire when it is attacked by separatists.

   Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have even created a monitoring contact
   group together with the OSCE to patrol the frontline.

   Some material for this report came from Reuters and AFP.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/ukraine-russia-cease-fire-strained/24
   73180.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/ukraine-russia-cease-fire-strained/2473180.html