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 But he reiterated that a buildup of forces in the regions the
separatists control in eastern Ukraine signaled the pro-Russian
rebels were planning a new offensive in a conflict that has killed
more than 4,000 people.
The two-month-old truce has been violated daily, and increasingly in
the past week. Each side has blamed the other for the violations.
"There is no intention of abandoning it (the ceasefire) despite all
... attempts to break these agreements by the Russian side,"
Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko told a news briefing in
the capital Kiev.
Kiev and the West say the separatists have received reinforcements
of equipment and troops from Russia. Moscow denies accusations by
NATO that it has sent in troops and tanks in the past few days and
says it wants the ceasefire to work. In remarks published on Thursday, Ukraine's representative to the
OSCE security and rights body told a German newspaper it was now
hardly possible to speak of a ceasefire, citing 2,400 alleged
breaches of the truce by rebels.
Lysenko said shelling in residential areas of the separatist-held
Luhansk and Donetsk regions had intensified and that there had been
no let-up in the flow of equipment to rebels from Russia.
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"We can't predict when (an attack could happen) but we must always
be prepared," he said, adding that reserve army units were being
prepared for action in case they were needed.
He said four Ukrainian servicemen had been killed in the past 24
hours.
(Reporting by Natalia Zinets, Writing by Alessandra Prentice,
Editing by Timothy Heritage)
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