Ukraine accuses rebels of violating 'Day of Silence'; Russian gas flows resume

Pro-Russian separatists fire in the air during a laying of the capsule ceremony for the chapel, to be built in memory of rebels and civilians who were killed in eastern Ukraine, at a destroyed war memorial at Savur-Mohyla, a hill east of the city of Donetsk, December 7, 2014. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's military accused separatists of violating an agreed "Day of Silence" in the country's embattled east on Tuesday, an initiative that was seen as an attempt to forge a durable ceasefire paving the way to a new round of peace talks.

In a step towards normalisation, Russia resumed shipments of natural gas to Ukraine on Tuesday after a six-month shut-off caused by a dispute over price and debt that ran parallel to the war waged by pro-Moscow rebels in eastern Ukraine.