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Rebel leaders also said they were ready to give peace a chance after 5 months of bloodletting that set off the most serious East-West crisis since the Cold War

EXCHANGE. A Ukrainian prisoner of war is greeted near a bus during an exchange of Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian rebels, near Kostyantynivka village, about 60 kilometers from Donetsk, Ukraine, 21 September 2014. Alexander Ermochenko/EPA

KIEV, Ukraine The Ukrainian military said Monday, September 22, it was preparing to pull back its guns from the frontline in the separatist east as a fragile truce with pro-Russian insurgents appeared to be taking hold.

Rebel leaders also said they were ready to give peace a chance after 5 months of bloodletting that set off the most serious East-West crisis since the Cold War.

Across the rebel-held regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, the level of violence appears to have subsided although Kiev said it lost two soldiers in overnight raids by "armed gangs".

The deaths bring to 39 the number of Ukrainian troops and civilians killed since the warring sides signed a September 5 truce that NATO's top military commander warned at the weekend was holding "in name only".

But hopes of peace gathered pace after the ceasefire was reinforced Saturday by another deal signed in Minsk calling for the withdrawal of fighters to allow the creation of a 30-kilometer (20-mile) buffer zone.

"We are making preparations to move back our heavy weapons 15 kilometres from the frontline," said Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko.

'There is a chance'

The "deputy prime minister" of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Andrei Purgin, said the rebels were ready to carry out their side of the bargain even if it was "with great difficulty".

Excerpt from:
Ukraine prepares pullback as truce holds