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Poroshenko: Donbass quiet for week

KIEV, September 5. /TASS/. Donbass has seen no shelling for a week, Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko said Saturday.

"Today it’s been the first week without fire at Donbass fronts. The first week when the Minsk Agreements have finally started working. People still die on trip wires, in road accidents, but not in combat clashes or shelling," Poroshenko said.

At a meeting of the Contact Group on settlement in Donbass in Minsk on August 26, its participants confirmed their plans to ensure ceasefire in Donbass by September 1. Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Special Representative in Ukraine Martin Sajdik said that it is necessary to achieve stable ceasefire by the start of the new academic year.

Separate violations of ceasefire were registered over the last few days.

Thus, the truce, which had been generally observed for the past six days, was violated by the Ukrainian military.

Massive shelling of residential neighborhoods, including with the use of aviation, has killed thousands and led to a humanitarian disaster in the area.

Kiev has regularly violated the ceasefire regime imposed as part of the Package of Measures on implementation of the September 2014 Minsk Agreements.

The Package (Minsk-2) was signed on February 12, 2015 in the Belarusian capital Minsk by participants of the Contact Group on settlement in Donbass.

The Package, earlier agreed with the leaders of the Normandy Four (Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine) envisioned an overwhelming cessation of fire and withdrawal of heavy armaments to create a security area in the region at least 50 kilometers wide.