Here is the latest map of the military situation in the Donbas region issued by Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council (click to enlarge):
Our news desk has issued this item on some disheartening developments regarding the shaky truce:
Ukraine says three of its soldiers have been killed and seven wounded in the east over the past 24 hours, following two days when no fatalities were reported.
The military said on February 27 that fighting with pro-Russian separatists had halted along most of the frontline but that there were still clashes in villages around Donetsk airport.
President Petro Poroshenko earlier said that a "military threat from the east" will remain even if a cease-fire holds between government troops and rebels.
The warning was seen as a reference to Russia, which Kyiv and the West accuse of helping the separatists with weapons and soldiers -- a claim denied by Moscow.
The two sides say they are withdrawing their heavy weapons from the front line under a truce deal signed in Minsk earlier this month.
But the process is yet to be officially confirmed by international monitors.
(AFP, Reuters)
Another item from our news desk:
Spain has arrested eight Spanish citizens for fighting alongside pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine's eastern regions.
Spanish police officials say the eight Spaniards, whose names were not disclosed, were detained on February 27 in six regions across Spain: Asturias, Catalonia, Extremadura, Murcia, Navarra and Madrid.
A police statement says the eight were accused of several offenses but gave no details.
Media in Spain cite sources close to the investigation as saying that the charges could include possession of weapons of war, complicity in homicide, and violating Spain's neutrality in the Ukraine conflict.
Pro-Russian forces in the eastern Donbass region are battling those troops from the pro-European Ukrainian government.
The conflict, which has killed at least 5,800 people since April, has raised tensions between the West and Moscow to heights reminiscent of the Cold War.
(AP, El Pais)