MARIUPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s president has made a surprise trip to a government stronghold in the country’s southeast — in a dramatic show of his government’s strength in the region.

Speaking to hundreds of workers in hard hats in the strategic port city of Mariupol (mah-ROO’-pahl), President Petro Poroshenko declared that the city “was, is and will be Ukrainian.”

His trip came just days after the city faced sustained rebel fire. It underscored his government’s determination to hold onto what remains of its grip on Ukraine’s rebellious east.

The visit came as a tenuous cease-fire appears to be holding between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

In his speech, Poroshenko insisted that he had not agreed to the cease-fire out of weakness. He also reiterated that independence for the separatist region is off the table, and that there will be no political negotiations to end the crisis other than with “elected leaders” of the region.

%@AP Links

158-c-12-(Laura Mills, AP correspondent)-“in east Ukraine”-AP correspondent Laura Mills reports there is relative quiet in eastern Ukraine after a weekend of artillery fire. (8 Sep 2014)

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161-c-21-(Laura Mills, AP correspondent)-“heard very little”-AP correspondent Laura Mills reports the cease-fire seems to be holding after a couple of days of sporadic artillery fire. (8 Sep 2014)

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APPHOTO XSG109: Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko delivers his speech during his visit to the Ilich Iron and Steel Works in the southern coastal town of Mariupol, Ukraine, Monday, Sept. 8, 2014. Poroshenko made a surprise trip Monday to a key city in southeastern Ukraine as a cease-fire between Russian-backed rebels and Ukrainian troops appeared to be largely holding. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) (8 Sep 2014)

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