The German government on Tuesday announced fresh efforts to bolster a ceasefire deal in eastern Ukraine, where fighting between pro-Russia separatists and Ukrainian forces has left nearly 10,000 people dead.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and French President Francois Hollande on Monday night. She urged all parties in the so-called Normandy contact group to "comply" with the peace deal known as Minsk II, said deputy government spokesman Ulrike Demmer.

Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany - dubbed the "Normandy Four" - agreed to increase efforts to implement the "security and political aspects" of the 2015 peace deal brokered by Berlin and Paris.

Click here to read more: 'Death: an occupational hazard in Donbass'

Under the Minsk II agreement, warring parties are to stick to a full ceasefire, withdraw heavy weapons from the frontline to establish a security zone and release all hostages on the basis of an "all for all" exchange.

The German government called on Ukrainian forces and pro-Russia separatists to progress on the issue of exchanging prisoners of war, which is crucial for establishing trust for a political solution.

Ukraine: Living on the front lines Caught in the crossfire Every evening, the shelling begins around sunset. The front lines near Donetsk see nightly mortar and machine gun fire as the conflict between the Ukrainian military and pro-Russian separatists’ rages on. Caught in the crossfire are many elderly civilians who are too impoverished to go elsewhere. Ivan Polansky, above, surveys the damage on his home in Zhovanka.

Ukraine: Living on the front lines ‘Waiting for a shell’ Residents of Zhovanka in the so-called ‘gray zone,’ a thin strip of land separating warring militaries, line up to see a visiting doctor. Medics hold pop-up clinics in the town once a week. "Each day, you are waiting for the shell to land on your house and you never know when it’s going to come," said local resident Ludmila Studerikove.

Ukraine: Living on the front lines Without electricity and heating Zhovanka was once home to 1,000 people, but the number has dwindled to about 200 since the war began in mid-2014. It has been three months since residents have had electricity and gas. "Sometimes I’m so scared that I lay in bed at night and just shake,” Studerikove said. “My husband stays by my side and holds my hand."

Ukraine: Living on the front lines Nowhere else to go Olexander Voroshkov, program coordinator for the regional charity SOS Kramatorsk, said residents continue to live in half-destroyed homes with leaky roofs, even through the winters, because rent in nearby Ukrainian cities has skyrocketed since the beginning of the conflict. "Rents in Kramatorsk are now similar to those in Kiev, but the salaries are much lower than in Kiev," Voroshkov said.

Ukraine: Living on the front lines Reliance on humanitarian aid Women line up to receive medicine and multivitamins in Zhovanka. Food and humanitarian supplies are delivered to the town by charity organizations, as crossing checkpoints sometimes requires people to wait more than a day in line. "We had everything; we had fresh air, nature. It was very nice here. Now we just have the cold," said local resident Vera Sharovarova.

Ukraine: Living on the front lines Adapting to DNR frontlines Vera Anoshyna, left, speaks with neighbors in Spartak, a town in what is now the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR). Anoshyna said she has done her best to adapt to the conflict. "If you don’t have water, you find it," she said. "If you don’t have electricity, you find a solution. But you never know where the next bomb will land."

Ukraine: Living on the front lines Six broken ribs Svetlana Zavadenko stands before her home in Spartak. She was injured when the walls collapsed after several mortars exploded in her yard. Neighbors had to dig Zavadenko out of the rubble and she was sent to the hospital with six broken ribs and a ruptured liver. She smokes “Minsk” brand cigarettes and laughs when asked what she thinks about the war.

Ukraine: Living on the front lines 'We lost hope' Zavadenko recovered from her injuries and lives alone with several pets. Spartak has not had electricity, gas, or water services since 2014, so she uses a grill to cook her food. For firewood, she goes to an abandoned furniture factory nearby and collects plywood. "Last winter we thought [the war] would finish, but now, honestly, we lost hope," she said.

Ukraine: Living on the front lines Possibility of a drawdown Damage from shelling on the outskirts of Donetsk. Despite past failures in deescalating the war, a new ceasefire may be in sight after an October peace summit in Berlin, where Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he was ready to end hostilities in eastern Ukraine and would withdraw troops from the region.

Ukraine: Living on the front lines 'We lost too many soldiers to stop now' Even if both sides agree on a ceasefire, they will face opposition from their militaries, who claim their sacrifices were too heavy to simply put down their weapons. "We lost too many soldiers to stop now," said Vladimir Parkhamovich, colonel of the 81st Airmobile Brigade in the Ukrainian military. "If they give us an order [to stop] we’ll consider them traitors." Author: Diego Cupolo



No end in sight

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) special monitoring mission in Ukraine on Friday reported "more ceasefire violations" in the Donetsk region, noting that it had recorded "fewer explosions" compared to the previous observation period. In the Luhansk region, the OSCE said it observed "fewer ceasefire violations."

Violence peaked in February with more than 10,000 ceasefire violations a day, prompting NATO officials to describe it as the conflict's "most violent" week in over a year.

In 2014, pro-Russia forces launched a rebel insurgency in eastern Ukraine in the wake of Moscow's military intervention and subsequent annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in an internationally condemned referendum.

Nearly 10,000 people have been killed and half a million children affected since the conflict erupted three years ago, according to UN figures.

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ls/jm (AP, AFP, dpa)