DONETSK, Ukraine — Pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine’s embattled east have dismissed a unilateral cease-fire ordered by President Petro Poroshenko as fake, while nine Ukrainian service members were wounded in clashes overnight.

Otherwise, no large-scale fighting had been reported Saturday, the opening day of what is to be a six-and-a-half-day stand-down by the Ukrainian military.

Poroshenko ordered the cease-fire starting at 10 p.m. Friday as a first step in a peace plan he hopes will end a conflict that has left hundreds of people dead and weighed heavily on the country’s economy.

The plan includes an amnesty for fighters who lay down their arms, and a chance for them to leave the country. That is to be followed by local and parliamentary elections and a jobs program.

Separatist leaders have rejected the cease-fire and said they will not disarm.

Pavel Gubarev, who describes himself as the governor of the Donetsk People’s Republic, said there was no cease-fire near Slovyansk, scene of serious clashes over the past several months.

“There is no cease-fire over there,” Gubarev said. “There is shooting all the time, and this cease-fire that Poroshenko is talking about is just fake. The Ukrainian forces are either not under his control, or he is just a liar.”

The U.N. says 356 people have died in violence in Ukraine since May 7, and 34,000 have left their homes. The U.N. count did not include several recent clashes and fighting before May 7.