Blame traded over alleged cease-fire violations in Ukraine

A cease-fire between government forces and pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine's east appeared to be largely holding on Saturday, despite accusations by both sides of minor violations of the truce.

A Ukrainian defense official accused rebels in the eastern city of Donetsk of a "series of provocations" after the truce went into effect at 6 p.m. Friday.

"They fired on our anti-terrorism units on 28 occasions, with 10 of those coming after the cease-fire," National Security and Defense Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko told reporters Saturday. 

Meanwhile, rebels accused Kiev's forces of breaking the cease-fire just hours after it was agreed upon, and vowed to pursue their separatist drive in the east.

A leading member of the parliament established by the rebels’ self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic said Ukrainian units had launched several missiles toward rebel positions after the truce went into effect.

"The cease-fire's terms are not being observed," Vladimir Makovich told the Agence France-Presse news agency.

On Friday "at 9 p.m., we saw several missiles launched on the outskirts of the city of Donetsk, and also a heavy armored column moving from the (neighboring southwestern region) of Zaporizhia," he said.

His comments were echoed by the prime minister of the People's Republic, Aleksander Zakharchenko, in comments to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

Ukraine, Russia and the Kremlin-backed separatists signed the cease-fire deal Friday in Minsk, the Belarusian capital, in an effort to end five months of conflict in the region.

The negotiators also agreed on the withdrawal of all heavy weaponry, the release of all prisoners and the delivery of humanitarian aid to devastated cities in eastern Ukraine.

A previous 10-day cease-fire, which each side repeatedly accused the other of violating, yielded few results at the negotiating table.

U.S. President Barack Obama said he was hopeful that the latest cease-fire would hold, but unsure that the rebels would follow through or that Russia would stop violating Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Both the United States and the European Union have prepared even tougher sanctions against Moscow, and Obama stressed that the most effective way to ensure the cease-fire's success was to move ahead with those measures and maintain pressure on Russia.

According to a European Union diplomat, the new measures would target Russia's access to capital markets and trade in arms and defense technology, dual-use goods and sensitive technologies.

The new sanctions were given preliminary approval Friday night and could be implemented as early as Tuesday.

"If certain processes get underway, we are prepared to suspend sanctions" against Russia, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said. 

In a statement published online Saturday, Russia's foreign ministry condemned further EU sanctions and promised that "there will undoubtedly be a reaction from our side" to any new measures.

In August Russia passed a sweeping ban on meat, fruit, vegetables and dairy product imports from the EU, the U.S. and several other countries that had imposed sanctions on Russia.

Ukraine, NATO and Western nations have accused Russia of backing the separatists with weapons, supplies and thousands of regular troops, claims that Russia denies.

A NATO military spokesman told The Associated Press news agency that the number of Russian soldiers directly involved in the conflict has grown past the alliance's earlier estimate of at least 1,000.

Fighting between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian government troops has ravaged the already teetering Ukrainian economy, claiming at least 2,600 civilian lives and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless, according to United Nations estimates.

Al Jazeera and wire services