The Ukrainian ceasefire has held for more than 24 hours now, and while there have been intermittent reports of violations, mostly centering around the contested town of Debaltseve, the situation in general is calm.
France and Germany, who were instrumental in the ceasefire, issued a joint statement on the matter, saying local incidents had so far been quickly resolved, and saying the ceasefire was being “generally observed” by both sides.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation and Europe (OSCE) said the ceasefire was substantially implemented in the first 12 hours after the deadline, though they were unable to confirm how it was holding in Debaltseve, which they were unable to enter, and Luhansk, a key rebel city.
Locals in Kramatorsk, one of the towns retaken by the rebels in the days leading up to the ceasefire, reported heavy shelling in the hours before the ceasefire went into effect, but that calm has since returned. That seems to be the case across much of the nation, with hope that the ceasefire can lead to a general settlement of the civil war in the weeks and months to come.
Al Jazeera is reporting heavy fighting around Debaltseve. The eastern rebels are determined to take Debatseve and are shelling the encircled Ukraine forces.
"Accross much of the nation"??? There's no fighting outside that tiny southern part of Donetsk and Lugansk provinces!
Exactly. The Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics are nations, and there's fighting across much of them.
For once the New York Times appears to have an insightful read on the current situation in Ukraine. Apparently 8,000 Ukrainian soldiers are either completely surrounded or nearly surrounded. So perilous is the Ukraine situation that it occupied a full 8 of the 16 hours of formal talks in Minsk. There is also speculation that if Poreshenko is unable to resolve the fate of these 8,000 surrounded Ukraine soldiers the far right fascists that have done much of the front line fighting will overthrow Poreshenko and Ukraine will descend into mob rule.
No wonder Putin appeared to be fighting back a smile as he left the talks in Minsk.
A Reuters report says the rebels have offered to allow the 8,000 Ukraine soldiers trapped inside Debaltseve to leave if they give up their heavy weapons. Ukraine says no claiming under the Minsk agreement Debaltseve is theirs.
The latest AP report says it is quiet in Donetsk but fighting and shelling continues in Debaltseve and Luhanske which is about 9 miles from Debaltseve. The amazing thing is the announcement that the EU expanded the sanctions has infuriated the Russians who said it makes no sense in light of the recently concluded cease fire talks.