UN Secretary General Welcomes Ceasefire in Eastern Ukraine

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) — UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the beginning of truce in Donbas region, UN press service said Monday.

"The Secretary-General welcomes the start of a cease-fire in eastern Ukraine as agreed on 12 February under the package of measures for implementation of the Minsk accords," the statement released by UN press service said.

According to the document, Ban Ki-moon believes that the truce is generally holding. However UN Secretary General has voiced serious concern over "reports of continued instances of hostilities including in Debaltseve." Ban Ki-Moon also reiterated his call for the conflicting parties "to abide by the cease-fire without exception."

At midnight, local time on February 15 (February 14, 22:00 GMT) the ceasefire between Kiev forces and the independence supporters of southeastern Ukraine came in force, as it was agreed at the February 12 meeting between the leaders of Ukraine, France and Germany and Russia.

Both Kiev and Donbas militias said that the ceasefire is mostly respected, despite a number of violations. The head of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in Ukraine Ertugrul Apakan also stated Sunday evening that the truce was generally holding.