Fighting abates in eastern Ukraine, OSCE says

DONETSK, Ukraine – International monitors say fighting in eastern Ukraine has abated but the warring sides have kept heavy weapons near the front line.

Alexander Hug, deputy head of the monitoring mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said Monday that “the fighting has now subsided somewhat,” but added the OSCE monitors still have registered more than 1,300 cease-fire violations over the past 24 hours.

Hug warned that continuing deployment of heavy weapons’ near the front line raises the threat of a “renewed flare-up.”

Last week, more than 30 people including civilians were killed and several dozen injured in fighting between government forces and Russia-backed separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine — the worst violence in the region since a 2015 peace deal, which envisaged a cease-fire and a pullback of heavy weapons.