WHAT can you say to the families of the many people killed during Ukraine’s month-old “ceasefire”? At least 331 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians have died since September 5th, when the government and the rebels agreed to stop fighting. Among the dead were a Donetsk teacher caught in shelling and Laurent DuPasquier, a Swiss worker with the International Committee of the Red Cross. The true toll may be even higher.

The worst of the latest violence is centred around the Ukrainian-held airport in Donetsk, once a sleek symbol of progress, now a wasteland of rubble. Another hotspot is the town of Debaltseve, farther east on the road from Donetsk to Luhansk. These places are strategically important both for the rebels, who need supply routes, and for the government, loth to lose any more territory.

The so-called ceasefire was but one point of a 12-step peace plan hashed out in Minsk by Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko. The broad contours seemed to satisfy all parties. But the devil is in the detail, and implementation has faltered. The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe lacks the manpower and armoured vehicles to monitor the entire region. Serhiy Taruta, the Kiev-appointed governor of Donetsk, says the Minsk accords are just too vague.