A woman died and at least four people were wounded when fighting flared again in eastern Ukraine overnight into Sunday, jeopardising a ceasefire struck less than two days earlier between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists.
The accord, brokered by envoys from Ukraine, the separatist leadership, Russia and Europe’s OSCE security watchdog, is part of a peace plan intended to end a five-month conflict that has killed nearly 3,000 people and caused the sharpest confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cold War.
Shelling resumed near the port of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov late on Saturday night, just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko had agreed in a phone call that the truce was holding.
Fighting also broke out early on Sunday on the northern outskirts of rebel-held Donetsk, the region’s industrial hub. A Reuters reporter saw plumes of black smoke filling the sky near the airport, which has been in the hands of government forces.
“Listen to the sound of the ceasefire,” joked one armed rebel. “There’s a proper battle going on there.”
The two cities turned quiet again on Sunday afternoon.
Both sides insisted they were strictly observing the ceasefire and blamed their opponents for any violations.
“As far as I know, the Ukrainian side is not observing the ceasefire. We have wounded on our side at various points. We are observing the ceasefire,” Vladimir Antyufeyev, deputy premier of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic,” told Reuters.
Earlier, government forces said they had come under artillery fire east of Mariupol, a crucial port for Ukrainian steel exports. In the days before the ceasefire they had been trying to repel a big rebel offensive against the city.
The shelling in Mariupol claimed the first civilian casualty since the ceasefire began. Local officials confirmed the death of a 33-year-old woman early on Sunday and said at least four other people had been wounded.
