Ukraine truce under threat as heavy fighting erupts

DONETSK: Heavy fighting erupted around the rebel stronghold of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on Sunday, piling further pressure on a precarious nine-day-old truce between the government and separatist fighters. Large clouds of thick black smoke billowed over the industrial city as the boom of sustained shelling and the rattle of automatic gunfire rang out, reporters witnessed. Kiev accused the rebels of jeopardizing the truce by intensifying attacks on government positions in eastern Ukraine, the scene of five months of deadly combat. Sunday’s fighting appeared to be concentrated near Donetsk airport where the Ukrainian military said it had driven back a major assault by insurgent fighters on Friday. “The terrorist actions are threatening the realization of the Ukrainian president’s peace plan,” said National Security and Defense Council spokesman Volodymyr Polyovy. AFP