Isolated clashes hamper shaky Ukraine truce

Ukraine yesterday said that isolated clashes were punctuating a shaky truce with pro-Russian rebels after international monitors warned that the conflict in the country stands at a "crossroads".

Kiev military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said that fighting had halted along most of the frontline but rebels were attacking government positions around Donetsk airport, one of the most fiercely contested locations in the conflict.

No soldiers were reported killed over the past 24 hours, after Kiev said Friday that three servicmen had died after several days without a fatality.

The two warring sides both said that they were continuing the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front -- a key next step in a stuttering European-brokered peace plan to end fighting that has cost at least 5,800 lives since April.

But while monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have reported weapons movements on most sides they say it is too early to confirm a full pull-back.

As the fragile peace deal seemed to gain traction, the OSCE's envoy to Ukraine told the UN Security Council on Friday that while there were encouraging signs, the country still risked all-out war.

"We seem to be at the crossroads, where we are facing the risk of a further escalation of the conflict or where common sense, responsibility, and humanity shall prevail and we may be able to walk on the road to peace," envoy Heidi Tagliavini told the 15-member council.

The Security Council's meeting on the conflict came a year to the day after Russian and pro-Moscow forces began occupying strategic sites on the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.

Russia formally annexed the territory in March 2014, triggering an international furore. The uprising in Ukraine's east began the following month.

The UN said Friday there was a crisis in rebel-held areas, where people were living in "extraordinarily difficult circumstances".

The UN estimates 4.7 million people in or near the combat zones need help while another 300,000 people have fled to other parts of the country and a million abroad.

Kiev accuses Russia of continuing to pile in weapons and men to bolster the rebels and Poroshenko warned that even if the peace held, Russia would continue to threaten Ukraine.

"Even if there is a lengthy truce that leads to a political solution and long-term peace, the military threat from the east will unfortunately remain."