Ukraine's leader: 1-week cease-fire starts now

By DAVID McHUGH and MARKO DOBRNJAKOVIC, Associated Press | June 20, 2014 | Updated: June 20, 2014 12:03pm


  • Photo By Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
    A woman carries her belongings heading to the Ukrainian-Russian border checkpoint in Izvaryne as she leaves Ukraine, Friday, June 20, 2014. Some Ukrainians are leaving amid fighting in eastern Ukraine. Clashes between government forces and pro-Russia rebels flared ahead of the publication of a presidential peace plan that includes a unilateral cease-fire.


1 of 10









KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko orders his forces to cease fire and halt military operations for seven days against pro-Russia separatists in the country's east — the first step in what he hopes is a concrete plan to end the conflict that has cost more than 350 lives.
Poroshenko said troops would still return fire if attacked.
Poroshenko spoke during his first trip as president to the troubled east. He met with residents of the town of Syvatogorsk in the separatist Donetsk region.