Separatists dismiss ceasefire

DONETSK, (AP):Pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine's embattled east have dismissed a unilateral ceasefire ordered by President Petro Poroshenko as fake, while nine Ukrainian service members were wounded in clashes just before and after the ceasefire began.

Otherwise, no large-scale fighting had been reported yesterday, the first full day of what is to be a six-and-a-half-day stand-down by the Ukrainian military.

Poroshenko ordered the ceasefire starting at 10:00 p.m. last Friday as a first step in a peace plan he hopes will end a conflict that has left hundreds of people dead and weighed heavily on the country's economy.

The plan includes an amnesty for fighters who lay down their arms, and a chance for them to leave the country. That is to be followed by local and parliamentary elections and a jobs programme. The Kremlin — which had consistently demanded that Kiev be the first to cease fire — dismissed the plan, saying it sounded like an ultimatum and lacked any firm offer to open talks with insurgents.

Separatist leaders have rejected the ceasefire and said they will not disarm. In Donetsk, a group of armed men gathered in the central square to take a military oath to the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic.