Ukraine: First Casualty-Free Day Since Cease-Fire
Ukraine’s president said Friday that the fragile cease-fire between government forces and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine held for the first full day since fighting began there in the spring.
“This is the first night when I don’t have neither lost nor wounded Ukrainian soldiers, when we don’t have any lost or wounded civilians,” Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said in a speech in Sydney, Australia, where he’s wrapping up a three-day trip. A continued cessation of violence would be “a great step for peace and stability in Ukraine,” he said.
The break in the fighting comes as Ukrainian media and military report on a leadership shakeup in separatist-held areas, where fighting between militants and Ukrainian forces had persisted despite a September cease-fire agreement.