At least 15 people have been killed in east Ukraine in new shelling despite the signing of a peace deal to end the 10-month conflict. Pro-Moscow rebels and Government officials said that seven civilians were killed across the conflict zone during the past 24 hours while Ukraine’s military said eight soldiers lost their lives. The unrest came as Europe warned Russia it risked fresh sanctions if the fighting did not stop. The rebels and Kiev agreed a peace plan on Thursday after marathon talks in the Belarussian capital Minsk between the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany.
A ceasefire across the conflict zone is meant to start at midnight Ukraine time Sunday with both sides supposed to begin pulling back heavy weaponry from along the frontline no later than two days after that. The fragile agreement is seen as the best hope of ending the conflict, which has killed at least 5,480 people and ratcheted East-West tensions to highs not seen since the Cold War, but skepticism remains high after the collapse of a similar previous peace plan.