KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — A cease-fire between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian government troops appeared to be largely holding in eastern Ukraine Monday, a day after shelling and clashes rattled nerves and imperiled the peace deal. 
 
 Pro-Russian rebels sit in their car with a heavy machine gun in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2014. Strong explosions were heard early Sunday on the outskirts of the main rebel-held city... (Associated Press) 
 
 In a statement published online, the city council of Donetsk said there had been no reported casualties overnight and that public transport would be up and running on Tuesday. No shelling or explosions could be heard overnight in downtown Donetsk. 
 
 The regional administration of Donetsk announced that Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko would be traveling to the coastal city of Mariupol on Monday, a symbolic show of strength in a government-held city that has come under rebel fire in recent days. 
 
 The area around Mariupol had remained relatively untouched by violence until recent weeks, when rebel forces pushed toward the coastal town, shelling the city's outskirts as recently as Saturday. The city is strategically placed on the Sea of Azov coastline, raising fears that the Moscow-backed rebels could be pushing to link up mainland Russia with Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Russia in March. 
 
 The Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported Monday that 15 Ukrainian soldiers had been released by rebel forces, another key element of a peace deal between the rebels and Ukrainian troops. 
 
 The cease-fire was imposed late Friday, but was thrown into peril over the weekend by the Mariupol shelling and fighting near the airport of Donetsk. A previous 10-day cease-fire in June was riddled by reports of violations on both sides. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption EC's Pia Ahrenkilde-Hansen: "The sanctions package can be extended or stopped, depending on developments in the field" 
 
 The EU says new sanctions against Russia should be adopted shortly and take effect on Tuesday, despite a Kremlin warning of retaliation. 
 
 But an EU spokeswoman said the sanctions would be "reversible", depending on the situation in Ukraine. 
 
 Pro-Russian separatists and government troops are observing a fragile truce. 
 
 Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has arrived in the strategic port city of Mariupol, parts of which have been shelled as rebel forces edge closer. 
 
 Announcing his arrival in a tweet, Mr Poroshenko said: "We won't hand over this Ukrainian land to anyone." 
 
 The separatists have recently made big gains in eastern Ukraine. But a ceasefire agreed on Friday appears to be holding despite some sporadic shooting. 
 
 Fighting in the east has killed some 2,600 people since April. 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption A building in Mariupol witnesses said was hit overnight 
 
 Major state-owned oil firms including Rosneft are on the new EU sanctions list, but gas is not affected, diplomats say. US sanctions already target Rosneft. 
 
 Russia has warned that it could block international flights through its airspace if the EU goes ahead with new measures over the Ukraine conflict. 
 
 Russia has repeatedly denied accusations by Ukraine and the West that it has been sending troops into Donetsk and Luhansk regions to help the rebels, who want to establish an independent state. 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Donetsk airport has been the scene of constant battles between rebels and government forces 
 
 Analysis: Andrew Walker, BBC economics correspondent 
 
 Rosneft calls itself the leader of the Russian petroleum industry. That makes it a very important player in the European Union's energy market. About 90% of the crude oil used in the EU is imported and Russia is, by a large margin, the biggest supplier. 
 
 The sanctions don't appear to directly affect that relationship. They would prevent Rosneft raising money in European financial markets. 
 
 But as crude oil is mainly transported by sea, if the trade were disrupted any losses from Russian suppliers could potentially be replaced. It would almost certainly be more expensive, but it could be done, up to a point. 
 
 Gas is another story, which may explain why Gazprom's main business is reported not to be on the new sanctions list. Russian gas is delivered to Europe by pipeline. There is a trade in gas transported by sea, but it would be very difficult to compensate for a major disruption of supplies from Russia. 
 
 Oil firms targeted 
 
 A European Commission spokeswoman said the new sanctions package targeting Russian firms and officials "is due to be formally adopted by member states through a written procedure later today, so the procedure is ongoing". 
 
 "It will then be published in the official journal of the EU, which should happen in the course of tomorrow at the latest as plans currently stand," she said. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Fergal Keane in Mariupol: "People fear the war is coming to them" 
 
 Publication in the journal puts the sanctions into effect. 
 
 Diplomats say the new package will target Russian oil companies Rosneft and Transneft and the petroleum unit of state gas monopoly Gazprom. 
 
 Their access to financial markets will be restricted - a serious matter for Rosneft, which last month asked the Russian government for a $42bn (£25.2bn) loan. 
 
 The sanctions would also expand the visa bans and asset freezes on Russian officials and entities, including separatist leaders in Ukraine. 
 
 Earlier Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev warned that Moscow would respond "asymmetrically" to further sanctions. 
 
 A Russian airspace ban "could drive many struggling airlines into bankruptcy", he told a Russian daily. 
 
 "If there are sanctions related to the energy sector, or further restrictions on Russia's financial sector, we will have to respond asymmetrically... For example, restrictions in the transport sector. 
 
 "We work on the basis of friendly relations with our partners, and that's why Russia's skies are open to flights. But if we are restricted then we'll have to respond," he told Vedomosti (in Russian). 
 
 Airlines would have to pay far more for fuel if Russia blocked their routes to Asian destinations, and flight times would be longer in many cases. 
 
 Last week an EU official told the BBC that further sanctions would deepen the existing measures, affecting Russia's access to capital markets, dual-use goods which can be used for military purposes, defence equipment and some other sensitive technologies. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Richard Galpin in Donetsk: "We've heard the sound of quite a number of mortars being fired" 
 
 Mr Poroshenko's visit to Mariupol comes after some shelling was reported there at the weekend. 
 
 It is the last city in Donetsk region still held by the Ukrainian government and is a strategic port on the route to Crimea, the peninsula annexed by Russia in March. 
 
 On Sunday, Ukrainian security official Volodymyr Poliovyi said 864 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since the conflict began. 
 
 So far there have been no big prisoner exchanges since the ceasefire took effect. 
 
 12-point peace roadmap - key elements 
 
 Ensure an immediate bilateral ceasefire 
 
 Carry out decentralisation of power, allowing temporary local self-government in areas of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine under a "special status" law 
 
 Immediately free all hostages and illegally detained persons 
 
 Ensure monitoring on the Ukrainian-Russian border and a security zone 
 
 Ensure the holding of snap local elections in Donetsk and Luhansk 
 
 Remove illegal armed groups, military hardware, and all fighters and mercenaries from Ukrainian territory 
 
 Pass a law against the prosecution and punishment of people over certain events in Donetsk and Luhansk region 
 
 Posted by the OSCE on its website (in Russian). ||||| Ukraine said pro-Russian rebels targeted Mariupol, a frontline city in the east of the country, after President Petro Poroshenko announced his visit, further straining a four-day cease-fire. 
 
 Road blocks near the port city on the Sea of Azov came under fire from militants today, presidential spokesman Svyatoslav Tsegolko said on Twitter. Shelling and small-arms fire continued during the past 24 hours across the war-torn regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, said Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council. 
 
 “I am not optimistic at all -- I have not been optimistic from the beginning,” Didier Burkhalter, chairman of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which helped mediate and is monitoring the cease-fire, said at a news conference in Geneva. Even so, “we want to give it a chance.” 
 
 Related: 
 
 Poroshenko is visiting Mariupol against the backdrop of the uneasy stalemate between separatists and government forces, which have faced off in a conflict that the United Nations estimates has claimed at least 3,000 lives since mid-April. Both the authorities in Kiev and the rebels have been reporting casualties and violations of the truce that started at 6 p.m. local time on Sept. 5. 
 
 Photographer: Philippe Desmazes/AFP via Getty Images Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko arrives for a press conference in the key southeastern port city of Mariupol, on Sept. 8, 2014. Close Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko arrives for a press conference in the key... Read More Close Open Photographer: Philippe Desmazes/AFP via Getty Images Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko arrives for a press conference in the key southeastern port city of Mariupol, on Sept. 8, 2014. 
 
 EU Sanctions 
 
 European Union governments approved further sanctions against Russia over its encroachment in Ukraine, Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb told reporters in Helsinki today. The cease-fire isn’t yet holding, Stubb said, adding that’s he’s worried about a possible retaliation by the government in Moscow for the latest round of penalties. Russia denies involvement in the conflict. 
 
 “The move will doubtless entail immediate retaliatory action on the EU by Russia,” BNP Paribas SA analysts including Yevgeniy Orudzhev said in an e-mailed note to clients. “The sanctions are likely to exacerbate tensions between the EU and Russia, despite the cease-fire that has been observed in eastern Ukraine.” 
 
 Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Russia may respond with “asymmetric” measures, Vedomosti newspaper reported. Last month, President Vladimir Putin banned some food imports from the U.S. and its allies to strike back for previous sanctions. 
 
 The EU would review its sanctions against Russia should the cease-fire hold, European Commission President Herman Van Rompuy said yesterday on VRT television. 
 
 Ruble, Bonds 
 
 Subject to Sanction 
 
 The ruble weakened for the first time in four days and government bonds fell. The currency lost 0.4 percent to 41.9869 against the central bank’s target basket of dollars and euros as of 7:17 p.m. in Moscow, following a 2.2 percent gain in the previous three days. The Micex Index ended a four-day rally, with banks and energy companies leading the declines. The yield on 10-year local-currency bonds rose three basis points to 9.54 percent. 
 
 Photographer: Sergei Grits/AP Photo Pro-Russian rebels ride on a tank near the village of Berezove, eastern Ukraine, on Sept. 4, 2014, after a clash between pro-government troops and Russian-backed separatist militia. Close Pro-Russian rebels ride on a tank near the village of Berezove, eastern Ukraine, on... Read More Close Open Photographer: Sergei Grits/AP Photo Pro-Russian rebels ride on a tank near the village of Berezove, eastern Ukraine, on Sept. 4, 2014, after a clash between pro-government troops and Russian-backed separatist militia. 
 
 The ruble has retreated 11 percent against the dollar this year, the most among 24 developing peers tracked by Bloomberg after the Argentine peso. 
 
 Ukraine, which has accused Russia of deploying thousands of troops and using tanks and artillery to roll back the government’s offensive last month, has pressed for military assistance from the U.S. and Europe. Poroshenko said today that some North Atlantic Treaty Organization members have agreed to supply his government with modern weapons. 
 
 ‘Comical’ Denials 
 
 Standoff in Ukraine 
 
 While NATO isn’t sending weapons to Ukraine, its members can provide military assistance, said Alexander Vershbow, the alliance’s deputy secretary general. 
 
 To track Russia’s role in the conflict, NATO is relying on intelligence and evidence gleaned from satellites and media reports that corroborate its military presence in Ukraine, Vershbow said, adding that Russian denials are “comical.” 
 
 Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images Villagers watch as a Ukrainian tank drives down a street on the outskirts of Mariupol, Ukraine, on Sunday, Sept. 7. Close Villagers watch as a Ukrainian tank drives down a street on the outskirts of Mariupol,... Read More Close Open Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images Villagers watch as a Ukrainian tank drives down a street on the outskirts of Mariupol, Ukraine, on Sunday, Sept. 7. 
 
 “Russia is not prepared to respect the sovereignty of its neighbors and their freedom to choose their international orientation,” Vershbow told reporters today by video link from NATO’s headquarters in Brussels. “And that’s the root of the conflict with Ukraine.” 
 
 The crisis in eastern Ukraine has reignited tensions between Russia and its Cold War adversaries. Ukraine’s failure to achieve a military victory over pro-Russian rebels means the country can’t remain a “unitary state” even if it maintains territorial integrity, a senior Russian lawmaker said. 
 
 ‘Unitary State’ 
 
 “It’s hard to imagine that Ukraine will be able to preserve itself as a unitary state after such a bloody conflict,” Alexei Pushkov, head of the foreign affairs committee in the lower house of parliament, said in an interview in Moscow, referring to a model of government based on the supremacy of central authority. 
 
 Separatists today said they have the right to resume fighting if Ukraine’s military uses weapons against them, according to a joint statement issued by the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics. 
 
 The conflict has pivoted to negotiations over the political future of the mainly Russian-speaking regions on Ukraine’s eastern frontier, where most of the fighting has raged. Rebel representatives said the cease-fire doesn’t change their goal of independence, which Poroshenko has ruled out, telling the BBC that he doesn’t intend to withdraw troops completely. 
 
 Speaking during a meeting with soldiers in Mariupol today, Poroshenko said artillery, tanks and other units were redeployed around the port city, which came under threat less than two weeks ago as rebel forces mounted a counteroffensive. 
 
 No Surrender 
 
 “Mariupol is Ukraine,” Poroshenko said on Twitter. “We will not surrender this land to anyone.” 
 
 The cease-fire pact contains 12 points, including prisoner swaps, pulling back the army and creating a buffer zone on the Russian-Ukrainian border, according to a document posted yesterday on the OSCE website. It also contains political concessions from the authorities in Kiev on temporary self-government in some areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as local elections and an amnesty. 
 
 While Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council said yesterday that there’s no talk of ending the truce, explosions continued in the combat zone’s biggest city, Donetsk. The city council of Donetsk said on its website that residents heard shelling in many districts at about 5:30 p.m. local time today. 
 
 The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said today the rebels violated the cease-fire five times overnight. One soldier has died since the truce began, according to Poroshenko. The separatists said yesterday Ukrainian troops killed one militant in the village of Makiyivka and several more in another town. 
 
 Cease-fire Wobbles 
 
 The deaths were the first since the warring factions agreed to a cease-fire in the wake of a counteroffensive unleashed last month by the insurgents. Poroshenko and Putin spoke Sept. 6 by phone on the progress of the truce, agreeing that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe should monitor it, according to the Ukrainian leader’s website. The next talks on the conflict may take place in a week. 
 
 “There’s no doubt the shelling creates the risk of the cease-fire breaking down,” Volodymyr Fesenko, a political analyst at the Penta research institute in Kiev, said yesterday by phone. “But if it’s just local shelling, rather than intensive military action, I think the truce will hold.” 
 
 De-Escalation Signs? 
 
 Some signs of de-escalation are emerging, with Lysenko saying that rebels released 20 prisoners and government forces sustaining no casualties during the past day. Poroshenko said today that 863 Ukrainians are still held by the separatists. Ukraine has seen no Russian troop movements over the border in the last 24 hours, even as forces were redeploying near the frontier in northern Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Putin in March, Lysenko said. 
 
 Ukraine ordered some troops to retreat to new positions, according to Lysenko. He said Ukrainian forces have been adhering to the cease-fire and shooting only during life-threatening situations. 
 
 Even so, on his visit to Mariupol today, Poroshenko told his country to show resolve and brace for more adversity. 
 
 “We must defend the city and build fortifications,” he said, according to Interfax. “We must be prepared for a cowardly violation of the cease-fire.” 
 
 To contact the reporters on this story: Volodymyr Verbyany in Kiev at vverbyany1@bloomberg.net; Ilya Arkhipov in Moscow at iarkhipov@bloomberg.net 
 
 To contact the editors responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net Paul Abelsky, Ben Sills ||||| BRUSSELS—New European Union sanctions on Russia will expand the number of Russian companies unable to raise money in the bloc's capital markets to include three state-owned oil companies, according to documents seen by The Wall Street Journal. 
 
 The documents show the EU seeking to hit Russian oil companies, but leaving unscathed those involved in gas production and export, which are critical to many European countries' energy... ||||| DONETSK/MARIUPOL Ukraine A woman died and at least four people were wounded when fighting flared again in eastern Ukraine overnight into Sunday, jeopardizing a ceasefire struck less than two days earlier between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists. 
 
 The accord, brokered by envoys from Ukraine, the separatist leadership, Russia and Europe's OSCE security watchdog, is part of a peace plan intended to end a five-month conflict that has killed nearly 3,000 people and caused the sharpest confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cold War. 
 
 Shelling resumed near the port of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov late on Saturday, just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko had agreed in a phone call that the truce was holding. 
 
 Fighting also broke out early on Sunday on the northern outskirts of rebel-held Donetsk, the region's industrial hub. A Reuters reporter saw plumes of black smoke filling the sky near the airport, which has been in the hands of government forces. 
 
 "Listen to the sound of the ceasefire," joked one armed rebel. "There's a proper battle going on there." 
 
 The two cities then turned quiet for much of Sunday, but a Reuters witness in the early evening reported several mortar blasts within the city confines of Donetsk. They damaged a bridge where the rebels had erected a roadblock. 
 
 In a new report on the conflict, Amnesty International accused both the rebels and Ukrainian militia of war crimes and it published satellite images it said showed a build-up of Russian armor and artillery in eastern Ukraine. 
 
 "Our evidence shows that Russia is fuelling the conflict, both through direct interference and by supporting the separatists in the east. Russia must stop the steady flow of weapons and other support to an insurgent force heavily implicated in gross human rights violations," Amnesty's secretary-general, Salil Shetty, said in a statement. 
 
 Moscow denies dispatching forces or arming the rebels despite what NATO says is overwhelming evidence to the contrary. 
 
 WESTERN ARMS - OR NOT? 
 
 Poroshenko spent Thursday and Friday at a NATO summit in Wales at which U.S. President Barack Obama and other leaders urged Putin to pull forces out of Ukraine. NATO also approved wide-ranging plans to boost its defenses in Eastern Europe in response to the Ukraine crisis. 
 
 A senior aide to Poroshenko, Yuri Lytsenko, wrote on his Facebook page on Sunday that Kiev had reached agreement at the summit on receiving weapons and military advisers from five allies - the United States, France, Italy, Poland and Norway. 
 
 He gave no further details, but four of the five countries denied offering such assistance. 
 
 A senior Obama administration said the United States "has not changed policy" toward Ukraine, which thus far has been to provide only non-lethal military assistance. 
 
 The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not appear to rule out the possibility that Washington might at some point choose to offer arms to Kiev. 
 
 The official said the United States had so far given $70 million in security assistance to Ukraine and noted that U.S. President Barack Obama had said he was "looking at what more we can do." 
 
 Officials in Italy, Norway and Poland issued similar denials. 
 
 "Italy, along with other EU and NATO countries, is preparing a package of non-lethal military aid such as bullet-proof vests and helmets for Ukraine," an official at Italy's Defence Ministry said. 
 
 In France, an aide at the president's Elysee Palace declined to comment. 
 
 NATO officials have said the alliance will not send arms to non-member Ukraine, but they have also said individual allies may do so if they wish. A NATO official contacted by Reuters on Sunday about the Lytsenko comment reiterated that line. 
 
 Russia is fiercely opposed to closer ties between Ukraine and the NATO alliance. 
 
 The Ukraine conflict has revived talk of a new Cold War as the West accuses Putin of deliberately destabilizing the former Soviet republic of 46 million people. Ukraine's prime minister accused Putin of striving to recreate the Soviet Union. 
 
 Putin says he is defending the interests of ethnic Russians facing discrimination and oppression in Ukraine since protesters toppled Kiev's pro-Russian president in February. 
 
 Putin has seen his popularity in Russia soar since Moscow annexed Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which has a Russian majority, in March. 
 
 MUTUAL RECRIMINATIONS 
 
 Both the rebels and the Ukrainian military insisted on Sunday they were strictly observing the ceasefire and blamed their opponents for any violations. 
 
 "As far as I know, the Ukrainian side is not observing the ceasefire. We have wounded on our side at various points. We are observing the ceasefire," Vladimir Antyufeyev, deputy premier of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic", told Reuters. 
 
 Earlier, government forces said they had come under artillery fire east of Mariupol, a crucial port for Ukrainian steel exports. In the days before the ceasefire, they had been trying to repel a big rebel offensive against the city. 
 
 The shelling in Mariupol claimed the first civilian casualty since the ceasefire began. Local officials confirmed the death of a 33-year-old woman early on Sunday and said at least four other people had been wounded. 
 
 "They, terrorists, Russians, are trying to scare us. They have no respect for the ceasefire. They are lying all the time. They are people with no honor," said Slavik, a Ukrainian soldier armed with a machinegun. 
 
 A Reuters reporter at the scene, a few km (miles) from the center of the city of 500,000, saw fires raging just before midnight on Saturday as Ukrainian reinforcements raced east toward the demarcation line separating the two sides. 
 
 Poroshenko agreed to the ceasefire after Ukraine accused Russia of sending troops and arms onto its territory to bolster the separatists after they suffered heavy losses over the summer to a Ukrainian government offensive. 
 
 The peace roadmap agreed on Friday includes an exchange of prisoners of war and the establishment of a humanitarian corridor for refugees and aid. There was no sign of progress on either plan on Sunday. 
 
 (Additional reporting by Steve Scherer in Rome, Marcin Goclowski in Warsaw, Adrian Croft in Brussels, Arshad Mohammed in Washington, and Julien Ponthus in Paris; Writing by Gareth Jones; Editing by Mark Heinrich, Sonya Hepinstall, Hugh Lawson and Peter Cooney)
– A ceasefire between Ukraine and pro-Russia rebels is hanging on by a thread after a weekend of reported shelling and casualties, but the EU warns that sanctions against Russia will be put in place as early as tomorrow, reports the BBC. The Kremlin said the proposed sanctions—which may include further restrictions in Russia's financial and energy sectors, as well as visa bans and the freezing of assets of Russian leaders—would force its hand to take retaliatory measures, including closing down Russian airspace, Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev told a Russian newspaper. As the EU moves ahead with the official paperwork to complete the sanctions process, details are emerging about specific goals: More Russian organizations, for instance, will be kept from fundraising in the EU, including three state-owned oil companies and three military production companies, and at least five state-controlled banks will have their fundraising allowances curtailed even further, reports the Wall Street Journal. EU officials say the sanctions could be removed if "there is evidence Moscow is helping forge a genuine political solution." Although the ceasefire is still technically in place, local officials say one civilian died and four were wounded over the weekend in the coastal city of Mariupol, reports Reuters; the rebels are claiming several of their own casualties, adds Bloomberg. President Petro Poroshenko is scheduled to visit Mariupol today, reports the AP.