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Rebel leader calls for cease-fire in besieged Donetsk
August 10, 2014
A top separatist leader on Saturday admitted that Ukrainian forces had surrounded Donetsk, the stronghold of Russian-backed rebels, and called for a ceasefire on humanitarian grounds.
"We are ready for a ceasefire in order to avert the humanitarian catastrophe growing," Alexander Zakharchenko, prime minister of the self-styled Donetsk People's Republic, said in a statement posted on a rebel website, according to the Associated Press and AFP news agency.