Fighting between government troops and independence-seeking insurgents left at least eight people dead hours before full-scale hostilities were halted in eastern Ukraine, authorities said Tuesday.
Over the past one day, the rebels had carried 64 attacks against Ukrainian positions, killing six government soldiers and wounding seven others, Xinhua reported citing a statement issued by the press service of the National Security and Defence Council.
In a separate report, the press centre of the Ukrainian military operation said at least two civilians were killed and 10 others injured across the war-torn region late Monday and overnight.
The confronting sides in eastern Ukraine announced their consent to the ceasefire Tuesday morning to start the so-called “day of silence”.
Although there have been minor violations of the truce, there were no reports of large-scale offensive or civilian casualties so far.
The Ukrainian government has promised to extend the one-day ceasefire and start withdrawing heavy weapons from the frontline of the combat zone Wednesday if the rebels go ahead with halting hostilities.
The “day of silence” was enforced in eastern Ukraine as part of efforts to end the eight-month-old armed conflict, which has killed more than 4,300 people.
–IANS