At the last checkpoint before the airport in Ukraine's main insurgent bastion of Donetsk, separatist fighters manning the barricades are dismissive of suggestions that the ceasefire is holding.
"Here's your ceasefire," scoffed Dmitry, pointing to the fin from an exploded mortar round, lined up with another three against a wall at the Putilovskiy Bridge checkpoint to the north of the city.
"These little gifts arrived after the truce," said the rebel gunman, dressed in camouflage gear with a khaki scarf tied around his head and bearing a scar on his cheek.
Since the truce came into force on Friday, there have been almost daily reports of sporadic shelling around the airport, which remains in government hands, even though the city of Donetsk itself is controlled by insurgents.
The once gleaming airport was gutted by heavy fighting in late May, when government forces launched air strikes against scores of separatist gunmen who had seized control of the transport hub just a day after the election that brought President Petro Poroshenko to power.
But Poroshenko said Wednesday the situation in the east of Ukraine, where government forces have been battling pro-Russian rebels since mid-April, has dramatically improved since the truce.
He acknowledged that implementing the ceasefire had been "difficult", with what he described as repeated attempts by rebels to provoke Ukrainian troops to fire.
But he added: "The situation has radically changed at the front.
"Before the ceasefire was announced, Ukraine was losing the lives of dozens of its heroes on a daily basis."
Poroshenko also announced Russia had removed 70 percent of the troops allegedly sent across the border by Moscow to bolster a new counter-offensive by the rebels across the southeast.
- 'This one's for Poroshenko' -
More than 2,700 people have been killed in five months of warfare and at least half a million have fled their homes.
Donetsk, the biggest city in the Donbass region, eastern Ukraine's industrial heartland, has witnessed some of the fiercest fighting.
On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also said the ceasefire was holding on the whole.
But he said Moscow was "seriously concerned" about reports that Ukrainian forces were concentrating heavy weaponry near Debaltseve, some 70 kilometres (40 miles) northeast of Donetsk, suggesting "some sort of attack force" was being put together.
Dmitry, the rebel at the airport checkpoint, said the separatists would meet fire with fire.
"If the government forces shoot at us, we will respond 10 times stronger," he said.
"We will protect this piece of land where we work and live, where our grandparents worked and lived."
Another fighter, his face hidden by a black mask, showed off a grenade in his hand.
"We have enough for each Ukrainian soldier," he boasted.
"And this one I'm going to dedicate to Mr Poroshenko. We can send it by post."
At the last checkpoint before the airport in Ukraine’s main insurgent bastion of Donetsk, separatist fighters manning the barricades are dismissive of suggestions that the ceasefire is holding.
“Here’s your ceasefire,” scoffed Dmitry, pointing to the fin from an exploded mortar round, lined up with another three against a wall at the Putilovskiy Bridge checkpoint to the north of the city.
“These little gifts arrived after the truce,” said the rebel gunman, dressed in camouflage gear with a khaki scarf tied around his head and bearing a scar on his cheek.
Since the truce came into force on Friday, there have been almost daily reports of sporadic shelling around the airport, which remains in government hands, even though the city of Donetsk itself is controlled by insurgents.
The once gleaming airport was gutted by heavy fighting in late May, when government forces launched air strikes against scores of separatist gunmen who had seized control of the transport hub just a day after the election that brought President Petro Poroshenko to power.
But Poroshenko said Wednesday the situation in the east of Ukraine, where government forces have been battling pro-Russian rebels since mid-April, has dramatically improved since the truce.
He acknowledged that implementing the ceasefire had been “difficult”, with what he described as repeated attempts by rebels to provoke Ukrainian troops to fire.
But he added: “The situation has radically changed at the front.
“Before the ceasefire was announced, Ukraine was losing the lives of dozens of its heroes on a daily basis.”
Poroshenko also announced Russia had removed 70 percent of the troops allegedly sent across the border by Moscow to bolster a new counter-offensive by the rebels across the southeast.
– ‘This one’s for Poroshenko’ –
More than 2,700 people have been killed in five months of warfare and at least half a million have fled their homes.
Donetsk, the biggest city in the Donbass region, eastern Ukraine’s industrial heartland, has witnessed some of the fiercest fighting.
On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also said the ceasefire was holding on the whole.
But he said Moscow was “seriously concerned” about reports that Ukrainian forces were concentrating heavy weaponry near Debaltseve, some 70 kilometres (40 miles) northeast of Donetsk, suggesting “some sort of attack force” was being put together.
Dmitry, the rebel at the airport checkpoint, said the separatists would meet fire with fire.
“If the government forces shoot at us, we will respond 10 times stronger,” he said.
“We will protect this piece of land where we work and live, where our grandparents worked and lived.”
Another fighter, his face hidden by a black mask, showed off a grenade in his hand.
“We have enough for each Ukrainian soldier,” he boasted.
“And this one I’m going to dedicate to Mr Poroshenko. We can send it by post.”
