A ceasefire reached between the Kiev authorities and the militias on Friday fully took effect at about 8:00 p.m. local time, i.e. two hours later than was agreed upon, the headquarters of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) told Interfax on Saturday.
Before this, firing and explosions were heard at some locations for two hours, it said.
"Not everything went quiet immediately. This was expectable, as it's virtually impossible to stop combat actions instantly. Some of the Ukrainian units had not received the order by that time, and some purposefully continued firing. Shooting continued for some time in the Horlivka area and on the outskirts of Donetsk. At the present moment, the fighting has been stopped in all sections of all fronts," it said.
Witnesses said the Ukrainian armed forces kept on concentrating military vehicles near Mariupol and Volnovakha. The DPR Defense Ministry said it could not rule out some acts of provocation and warned that this could affect the ceasefire observance.
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