Ceasefire over in Ukraine

destroyed by shelling in Slaviansk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, 30 June 2014. In a bid to end two months of fighting, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and pro-Russian rebels announced earlier on 29 June that the week-long ceasefire that ended Friday was extended until 1900 GMT Monday, 30 June. It was not yet clear if a second extension would be agreed: photo - EPA/STRINGER

"We will attack and free our lands. The decision not to continue the ceasefire is our answer to terrorists, militants and marauders," Petro Poroshenk, elected in May as Ukrainian president, said in a televised address to the nation as the ceasefire with pro-Russian separatists ended at 10 pm local time last night.

Poroshenko, after phone calls with Russia's Vladimir Putin and German and French leaders, blamed “the criminal action of militants” for renewing the “anti-terrorist operation', with the Ukraine foreign ministry saying that 27 of its servicemen have been killed since the ceasefire was agreed on 20 June.

Meanwhile, the Association of Ukrainians in Poland says that since the beginning of the year 800 have applied for refugee status in the country's western neighbour, with 55,000 being issued visas to come to Poland – an increase of around a fifth from the same time last year.

“An increasing number of Ukrainians are seeking a life in Poland,” Piotr Tyma from the association is quoted in the Metro newspaper as saying.

The EWL employment agency says that in helped place 2,500 Ukrainians in jobs in the construction, agriculture and manufacturing industries in Poland in 2013. In the first half of this year, the agency had already found jobs for 1,500.

Poland's ministry of labour says 217,000 Ukrainians were working legally in Poland last year, with illegally employed workers probably doubling that number. (pg)