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, AFP correspondents said, 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 cease-fire was "generally being observed". Mariupol city hall said one woman had died in the shelling, the first reported death since the cease-fire.
The 12-point pact signed in Minsk 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. "The Ukrainian army has met the truce conditions fully, and has ceased fire. At the same time, our checkpoints came under attack from the terrorist side," said National Security and Defence Council official Volodymyr Poloviy.
The peace plan was drawn up after the rebels - reportedly backed by Russian troops and firepower - launched a lightning counter-offensive in late August that dramatically reversed recent gains by the Ukrainian army and set alarm bells ringing over Moscow's territorial ambitions.
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