Rebel fighters enjoy lull on eastern Ukraine front

Pro-Russian rebels ride on a motorcycle on a front line outside the village of Molochnoye, north-east from Donetsk, March 8, 2015. REUTERS/Marko Djurica

MOLOCHNOYE, Ukraine (Reuters) - Uneasy calm and domesticity have settled over rebel positions in the ruins of front-line towns in east Ukraine as steps are taken to observe a fragile ceasefire that each side expects the other to violate with a fresh offensive.

Near the charred shell of a tank, destroyed in a recent battle in the village of Molochnoye, a woman clad in camouflage fatigues cooked beetroot soup, while rebel fighters fashioned an empty ammunition box into a sidecar for an old Soviet motorbike.