LUHANSKOYE, Ukraine — The Ukrainian military and Russian-backed separatists blamed each other on Sunday for violations of a cease-fire during the first day the accord took effect.
Some lingering violence was expected, given the recent intensity of the combat, yet over all, Ukrainian officials said, the accord reached last week was holding.
A lull following the midnight cease-fire deadline was in turn followed Sunday morning by a resumption of shelling near the disputed town of Debaltseve, where the fate of about 8,000 Ukrainian soldiers remained an unresolved sticking point in the negotiations.
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He said he wanted to thank Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany for negotiating the truce, despite its limitations, on behalf of his grandchildren. Mr. Kravchenko had built a bomb shelter in his basement, laying out mats and setting up candles, and had spent nights with the children during the shelling.
”They would say, ‘Grandpa, I don’t want to die young,’ and I held them, and they were shaking, and I looked in their eyes, and they were afraid,” he said. “Now we are hoping.”
