The truce has been unmarred in the army operation zone in Donbas for 12 hours, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said.

"I would like to congratulate you on the fact that this regime has been complied with for 12 hours and 5 minutes; they are not shooting on the front," the president said at Ukraine's National Technical University, Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, on Thursday.

"Not a single random shot has been fired from small arms in that period. There have been neither artillery shots nor tank or mortar attacks," Poroshenko said.

It's important to fulfill security provisions of the Minsk agreements, the president said. "I hope to God we will maintain the ceasefire regime and artillery and tanks will be withdrawn; it would be best to withdraw them to Russia's territory, beyond the Ukrainian border," the president said.

Ukraine is expecting all captives to be released, he said. "I hope to God the OSCE SMM will have unhampered access and every security condition will be met for fulfilling the political package of the Minsk agreements," the president said.

Restoration of control over the border with Russia is a crucial provision of the Minsk agreements, he said.