(6 Jan 2015) Ukrainian soldiers took up duties on Tuesday at the Donetsk Airport, scene of some of the fiercest fighting in eastern Ukraine.
The 50 soldiers in a convoy of four trucks were provided safe passage to the airport by rebel forces, who gave them gifts in celebration of Orthodox Christmas.
As part of a troop rotation, the same trucks returned carrying 49 Ukrainian soldiers, since one had been killed in battle a few days earlier.
The rotation happened under the supervision of a joint commission of representatives from the Ukrainian and Russian army.
Ukrainian soldiers were allow
...ed to carry just one automatic gun each.
Fighting in eastern Ukraine has continued despite a cease-fire reached in September as the two sides have failed to agree on a line of division to create a buffer zone.
More than 4,700 people have been killed since April.
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