Mariupol - Pensioner Alla Troyan shares her room with ten other displaced people in a dilapidated social centre in Ukraine's port city Mariupol, after fighting in their nearby village forced them to flee.

Donetsk - Rebel fighters with Kalashnikovs watched over a dust-covered group of captured Ukrainian soldiers as they searched with their hands through the apocalyptic jumble of smashed concrete and twisted metal that is Donetsk airport.

Amnesty has called on members of the UN Security Council to relinquish their veto power. The recent findings of the 2014 Amnesty Annual Report shows repeated abuse of their vetoes by failing to protect civilians and provide them with peace and security.

Artemivsk - The UN Security Council on Friday was to hold an emergency session on the fragile truce in Ukraine, a year to the day since Russian troops and pro-Moscow forces began seizing ports and cities on the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.

Donetsk - The frontline slicing across east Ukraine is more than a boundary fought over by the army and pro-Russian forces; it is also a partition many Ukrainian civilians in the separatist-held zone need to cross to live their lives.

Mariupol - Pensioner Anatoliy gestures at a row of burnt out cars as he worries about what might be in store for his east Ukraine hometown -- the frontline port city of Mariupol."People are afraid and don't want this to be repeated," he tells AFP.

Kiev - Ukraine's military said Thursday it was starting the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the frontline with pro-Russian rebels, a key step in a stuttering peace plan.

Kiev - A UN-backed ceasefire showed signs of finally taking hold in Ukraine, even as the United States accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of destabilising the country through land grabs.

Novoazovsk - Wounded rebel fighter Islam Alibaterov limps painfully along the corridor of the hospital in the separatist-held town of Novoazovsk in east Ukraine.

Donetsk - Thousands of men and women gathered on Lenin square in east Ukraine's main rebel-held city Donetsk on Monday to celebrate a Soviet-era holiday and pay hommage to their fallen fighters.

Kiev - Pro-Russian forces massing near Ukraine's port city of Mariupol are continuing to attack government troop positions, Kiev said on Monday, fuelling concerns for the fate of a UN-backed ceasefire.

Debaltsevo - Soviet-era music, remixed to a modern techno track, thunders across Lenin Square in Debaltseve, where a woman jigs a couple of steps in dance.

Debaltsevo - The West sounded more forceful warnings over Ukraine's battered truce Sunday as fighting raged around the port city of Mariupol and the warring sides wrangled over withdrawing heavy weapons.

Kharkiv - An explosion killed three people and wounded more than 10 on Sunday in Ukraine's government-controlled eastern city of Kharkiv, officials told AFP.

Kharkiv - A bomb killed two people during a pro-government march in the east Ukraine city of Kharkiv on Sunday, officials said, as Kiev's army and rebels wrangled over a truce requiring them to pull back heavy weapons.

Frunze - Ukrainian forces and rebel separatists traded dozens of prisoners in a frontline eastern town, the first clear sign of progress for an otherwise shaky truce signed a week ago.

Frunze - Ukraine's military and pro-Russian separatists on Saturday began exchanging scores of prisoners each had taken, AFP journalists present in the frontline town where the swap was occurring reported.

Kiev - Ukraine lost 179 troops in a month-long battle with pro-Russian rebels that ended in defeat over the key eastern town of Debaltseve, an advisor to the country's president said.

Lugansk - The United States warned Saturday it could escalate sanctions on Russia after rebels overran a key Ukrainian town in violation of a truce, leaving a reported 179 government soldiers dead over a month of fighting.

Verbovka - Burnt-out armoured vehicles and crater-pocked plazas serve as grim reminders of the fierce battle for Debaltseve that ended with Ukrainian forces abandoning the strategic rail hub to pro-Russian troops this week.