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Some quiet but little peace on Ukraine frontline

Rebel commander Tikhii holds a finger in the air as the sound of an explosion echoes in the distance.

“That’s them shelling our position again, that’s the ceasefire,” he says. “It was a howitzer cannon.”

Despite the occasional thud of either incoming or outgoing artillery fire, however, these are actually days of relative respite for the former police officer and the separatist fighters he leads around the hotly contested airport in east Ukraine’s rebel bastion Donetsk.

Since government forces — including those still holed up in the ruins of what was once a gleaming passenger terminal — announced a ceasefire last week, fighting along the front has died down markedly and the number of casualties subsided.

The problem is that no one seems to believe this is likely to bring an end any closer to the conflict that has claimed over 4,700 lives since April.

Previous truces announced here have singularly failed to stem the bloodshed — and the firing still continues, albeit intermittently.

“It is still extremely tense but the shooting has at least died down,” the insurgent, whose nom de guerre means ‘quiet’, told AFP. “But no one knows how long this will last.”

Ukraine’s army says that it is respecting the ceasefire and blames separatist forces for shooting to try to stir fresh fighting. The top brass in Kiev has even said they could start pulling back their heavy weapons if peace holds.

“We can say that the period of ‘silence’ is being upheld even though the other side is constantly trying to provoke us,” Ukraine’s army chief Viktor Muzhenko told journalists in Kiev.

But the Russian-backed rebels around Donetsk’s airport say that the Ukrainian forces are using the outbreak of calm to reinforce their positions at the vital strategic hub.

Once that is done, fighting will restart, they say.

“They are moving in the military hardware, whole columns of it,” says insurgent commander Kvadrat, or ‘square’. “The conflict will get more intense as I don’t think the Ukrainian authorities want it to end.”

“This is not the beginning of the end — it is just another opportunity for them to build up their military strength.”

– No faith left –

Despite the drop-off in hostilities, rebels are still warning residents in the deserted and ravaged districts around the airport to stay away.

Not all of them are willing to leave their homes entirely, however.

Standing in the yard of his half-destroyed house at 74 Stretonitov street, Alexander Fokin has come back to sweep up the wreckage and try to clean up as best he can.

“Honestly speaking, I really want to believe that this can all be resolved somehow — and hopefully peacefully,” says the rotund construction worker, 52. “But I don’t have any faith in those people,” he mutters, jerking his hand in the direction of the Ukrainian frontline.

Since the first heavy fighting hit this area in late May, those who once called this home have had to get used to the turmoil.

And they are not the only ones.

“The dogs and the cats around here have already learnt how to run and survive when they sense firing,” Fokin says. “Do you get that? Even the animals have learnt this, not just the people.”