International monitors threatened by gunmen in east Ukraine

KIEV (Reuters) - International monitors in eastern Ukraine said that armed people fired into the air when they tried to approach a group of howitzers near a separatist-controlled village, in an area from which such weapons were supposed to be withdrawn under a ceasefire agreement.

A special mission (SMM) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is monitoring the implementation of the ceasefire agreement which was reached by Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists in September.