Ukraine's Poroshenko says Ukraine still a long way from peace

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Friday the country was still a long way from peace and that there were no guarantees a ceasefire deal agreed in Belarus the previous day would take effect.

"I don't want anyone to have any illusions and so I am not seen as a naive person: we are still a very long way from peace," he said during a visit to a military training ground. "Nobody has a strong belief that the peace conditions which were signed in Minsk will be implemented strictly."

Two civilians were killed and six injured on Friday morning by rebel shelling of the town of Shchastya, near Luhansk city in east Ukraine, the head of the Kiev-controlled regional administration said earlier.

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