DONETSK
Donetsk, the eastern Ukrainian city at the center of recent clashes between pro-Russian rebels and Kiev government forces, remains quiet 24 hours after a cease-fire was declared between the two sides.
Traffic has returned to the roads and city squares. No shots have been reported since Friday night.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Friday ordered the army to adopt a cease-fire. Rebels in Donetsk announced on social media that they had stopped engaging Ukrainian military targets.
One Donetsk resident, Tatyana Vladimirovna, told Anadolu Agency that she had returned to the city center as she felt safe under the cease-fire.
“But again in this case there is no full guarantee,” she added.
“Everybody wants to live in safety and peace,” said another Donetsk citizen, Michael Ivanovic.
“But this must be reached under suitable conditions,” he added, claiming that the Ukrainian army “speaks in one way but acts in another”.
“For as long as the government will be in power in Kiev we will not find peace in this region,” Ivanovic said.
The United Nations estimates that over 2,500 people have been killed in Ukraine’s restive east since mid-April, when Kiev launched military operations in the provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk to restore government control after pro-Moscow separatists declared independence.
www.aa.com.tr/en
