A short-lived ceasefire in eastern Ukraine apparently collapsed late Saturday when fighting broke out in Mariupol, a port city in the country's southeastern region.
BBC journalist Fergal Keane — who just hours before the shooting began had reported that the ceasefire was holding — tweeted from the scene.
#Ukraine shelling started at approx 2235 local and is continuing
#Ukraine On roof of hotel and can see flashes from explosions and hear powerful detonations.
Other witnesses told the Associated Press the fighting included explosions and rocket fire on the eastern edge of the city. Ukrainian troops have established defensive lines against the pro-Russian rebels in that same area.
BBC News producer Will Vernon tweeted a picture that appeared to show an explosion.
#Mariupol
Other journalists who tweeted about the violence included Roland Oliphant of The Telegraph, Shaun Walker of The Guardian, and Polish television reporter Wojciech Bojanowski.
We hear shelling in the outskirts od #Mariupol
#ceasefire is over. Now we hear shelling again in eastern Mariupol. People hiding in cellars. Its tough.
Eastern checkpoint hit. Tank just went straight into town don't know whose
Those were Ukrainian tanks pulling back into city
In #Mariupol a car shot near the factory. Somebody knows what happend?
It was not immediately clear who initially broke the ceasefire Saturday night.
#Ukraine To all asking:who started it? Impossible to say right now.Will try to get clearer picture in the morning when its safe to check.
However, a twitter account claiming to represent self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic tweeted that "Armed Forces Novorossiya take Mariupol."
Вооруженные Силы Новороссии берут Мариуполь.
As far as I understand from what officials there have said, the @press_dnr account is official. So DNR officially admits breaking ceasefire.
Later, the same account tweeted about continued fighting: "Prime DNR Zakharchenko: The ceasefire is not fully complied with, fighting continues"
Премьер ДНР Захарченко: Договоренность о прекращении огня полностью не соблюдается, бои продолжаются
The fighting apparently stopped early Sunday morning.
No shelling for a while. Lots of flames on the novoazovsk road out if town.
#Ukraine quiet now but reliable reports Ukr c/p we filmed at earlier hit by shellfire.Could see flames in distance and flashes.