The Ukrainian president Monday night said he would not extend a unilateral cease-fire with pro-Russian separatists fighting in the eastern part of the country. "We will attack and we will liberate our land," President Petro Poroshenko said in a statement on his website.
The 10-day cease-fire expired Monday, but the militants had neither disarmed or relinquished control of border posts. Poroshenko had already extended the cease-fire from seven days.
The fragile truce was also violated repeatedly. Just hours into the agreement last week, militants shot down a helicopter killing nine people. In his statement late Monday, Poroshenko blamed the rebels' undermining actions for the non-renewal.
Earlier in the day, Poroshenko discussed the situation in a phone call with the leaders of Russia, Germany and France, saying the rebels had not "fulfilled the conditions." Russian President Vladimir Putin had stressed the need to extend the ceasefire in that conversation. Ukraine has accused Russia of supporting the insurgency by providing troops and weapons across the border.
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