Shelling in Ukraine cities ahead of midnight ceasefire
Shelling in Ukraine cities ahead of midnight ceasefire, Shelling could be heard in two eastern Ukrainian cities Saturday morning ahead of a midnight ceasefire deadline, raising fears that the deal to end a bitter 10-month-long conflict may be in jeopardy.
Both incoming and outgoing artillery could be seen in the vicinity of the coastal city of Mariupol, and there was significant shelling in Donetsk through the morning, CNN teams reported.
The continued conflict comes after Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko warned Friday that the planned ceasefire between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists was in "big danger."Poroshenko said that after the agreement reached Thursday by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France, the offensive against Ukrainian troops by the separatists had intensified.
The separatists may be trying to take control of strategic locations, such as government-controlled Mariupol and the railroad hub of Debaltseve to the north, before the ceasefire lines are drawn.
The peace agreement signed in Minsk, Belarus, comes with many questions over how it will be implemented and whether it will stick.
OSCE urges reduction of hostilities
The first test will be whether the guns do indeed fall silent when the ceasefire comes into force at midnight local time Saturday to Sunday.
Both sides are expected to start pulling back their heavy weapons from the front lines Monday, creating a buffer zone at least 50 kilometers (31 miles) wide.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which already has a monitoring mission in Ukraine, has been given the challenging task of overseeing the process.
"We need to have an effective ceasefire," OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier said Friday. "So I'm already concerned that we are seeing this morning a continuation of hostilities."
The OSCE hopes to see a reduction in hostilities between now and Saturday night, he said.
"I would expect the ceasefire to stop (armed) operations and to stop people where they are," he said.
While Ukrainian forces have to pull back their heavy weapons from the front line as it stands Saturday night, the separatist forces must pull back theirs from the front line as it was on September 19, when a previous peace agreement was signed in Minsk. That swiftly disintegrated amid continued violence.
The new ceasefire proposal represents a territorial gain for the separatists, who control parts of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
U.S. envoy: Separatists have more arms than some NATO states
The Kremlin has said it hopes to see the latest peace plan succeed.
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia's state-run RIA Novosti on Friday that while Russia had helped to bring about the Minsk agreement, it wasn't in its power to fulfill it "because Russia is not a participant in the conflict."
Russia has steadfastly denied accusations by Kiev and the West that it is sending forces and heavy weapons into Ukraine.
But Kiev has accused it of continuing to do so even since the peace plan was signed in Minsk.
Geoffrey Pyatt, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, tweeted Saturday that the separatists "now have larger fighting force with more tanks armored vehicles, heavy artillery & rocket systems than some NATO and European countries."
Both incoming and outgoing artillery could be seen in the vicinity of the coastal city of Mariupol, and there was significant shelling in Donetsk through the morning, CNN teams reported.
The continued conflict comes after Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko warned Friday that the planned ceasefire between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists was in "big danger."Poroshenko said that after the agreement reached Thursday by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France, the offensive against Ukrainian troops by the separatists had intensified.
The separatists may be trying to take control of strategic locations, such as government-controlled Mariupol and the railroad hub of Debaltseve to the north, before the ceasefire lines are drawn.
The peace agreement signed in Minsk, Belarus, comes with many questions over how it will be implemented and whether it will stick.
OSCE urges reduction of hostilities
The first test will be whether the guns do indeed fall silent when the ceasefire comes into force at midnight local time Saturday to Sunday.
Both sides are expected to start pulling back their heavy weapons from the front lines Monday, creating a buffer zone at least 50 kilometers (31 miles) wide.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which already has a monitoring mission in Ukraine, has been given the challenging task of overseeing the process.
"We need to have an effective ceasefire," OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier said Friday. "So I'm already concerned that we are seeing this morning a continuation of hostilities."
The OSCE hopes to see a reduction in hostilities between now and Saturday night, he said.
"I would expect the ceasefire to stop (armed) operations and to stop people where they are," he said.
While Ukrainian forces have to pull back their heavy weapons from the front line as it stands Saturday night, the separatist forces must pull back theirs from the front line as it was on September 19, when a previous peace agreement was signed in Minsk. That swiftly disintegrated amid continued violence.
The new ceasefire proposal represents a territorial gain for the separatists, who control parts of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
U.S. envoy: Separatists have more arms than some NATO states
The Kremlin has said it hopes to see the latest peace plan succeed.
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia's state-run RIA Novosti on Friday that while Russia had helped to bring about the Minsk agreement, it wasn't in its power to fulfill it "because Russia is not a participant in the conflict."
Russia has steadfastly denied accusations by Kiev and the West that it is sending forces and heavy weapons into Ukraine.
But Kiev has accused it of continuing to do so even since the peace plan was signed in Minsk.
Geoffrey Pyatt, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, tweeted Saturday that the separatists "now have larger fighting force with more tanks armored vehicles, heavy artillery & rocket systems than some NATO and European countries."
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