Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says that a cease-fire agreement has been observed for the first time for an entire week in eastern Ukraine, where government forces have been engaged in military conflict with Russian-backed separatists.
"Today marks the first week when there is no shooting in the battle zone. The first week when finally the Minsk agreement is being implemented," Poroshenko said in Kyiv on September 5, referring to the cease-fire deal brokered by Germany and France in the Belarusian capital in February.
Poroshenko said several people were killed or injured in different incidents, "but no one died in clashes and shelling today."
He said it gave "strong hope" that peace efforts by the Ukrainian government "provide an opportunity to build a new, effective state."
The conflict in eastern Ukraine has killed more than 6,500 people since it erupted in April 2014.