The Ukraine government today extended a weeklong cease-fire with pro-Russia separatists for another three days.
The announcement on President Petro Poroshenko's website said that Ukraine forces would stand down for an additional 72 hours, until 10 p.m. Monday.
The Associated Press says:
"The announcement came shortly after Poroshenko returned to Kiev from Brussels where he signed a landmark free trade deal at a European Union summit.
"The cease-fire extension had been undertaken, it said, in line with a deadline set by EU leaders for Ukrainian rebels to agree to cease-fire verification arrangements, return border checkpoints to Kiev authorities and free hostages including detained monitors of the OSCE rights and security watchdog."
As we reported last week, Ukraine ordered a unilateral seven-day cease-fire that expired today. Three days later, pro-Russian separatists agreed to abide by it.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
