A serviceman was killed in an explosion in war-torn eastern Ukraine today but the brittle ceasefire appeared to be holding, authorities said.
A Ukrainian soldier perished in the blast of an "unknown explosive device" in the Lugansk region, one of the two eastern regions controlled by pro-Russian rebels, military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said.
"The situation in eastern Ukraine remains fairly stable," Lysenko said, adding that no heavy weapons had been used over the last 24 hours.
A Western-brokered ceasefire agreed in February has been punctuated by deadly incidents on an almost daily basis.
In a fresh bid to end the violence, Ukrainian government and representatives Moscow-backed separatists last week agreed to seek to end all violations of the ceasefire starting on Tuesday.
But the agreement was undermined on Wednesday when two civilians were killed and four soldiers wounded in ambush while taking part in an anti-smuggling operation.
The United Nations estimates that the conflict has killed more than 6,800 people since April last year and driven at least 1.4 million people from their homes.
Russia has repeatedly denied accusations by Ukraine and its Western allies of fuelling the conflict and supporting pro-Russian rebels in the east.
