Separatist leaders in two main areas of Ukraine's east have agreed to observe a ceasefire with Ukrainian forces until June 27, according to The Associated Press.
The truce is to run parallel to a unilateral Ukrainian military ceasefire declared by President Petro Poroshenko on Friday as part of a peace plan to end the insurgency by pro-Russian separatists in the Russian-speaking east that threatens the dismemberment of the former Soviet republic, the AP reported.
The separatists' announcement, after talks which also involved a senior Russian diplomat and a former Ukrainian president, came after a day of high diplomacy in which the West urged Russia to use its influence to defuse the conflict in Ukraine's rebellious east, according to the AP.
Volodymyr Chepovy, an official of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, said that from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. no incidents of weapons use were recorded, the AP reported. "There were no attempts to seize administrative buildings or military points etc."
Ukrainian ex-president Leonid Kuchma, who took part in the talks, said the agreement on a two-way ceasefire until 10 a.m. on June 27 meant "one of the key problems has been resolved," according to the AP.
Andriy Parubiy, head of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, said the participants at Monday's talks had also agreed there should be cooperation to free hostages, the AP reported.
Earlier, the European Union, with whom Ukraine will sign a landmark association and trade agreement on Friday, threw its weight behind Poroshenko's peace initiative after hearing a report from his new foreign minister, and it urged Russia to use its influence on the separatists to halt the violence, according to the AP.
"The EU calls on all sides to agree and honour a ceasefire immediately in order to stabilise the security situation, achieve a genuine de-escalation and create the necessary conditions for President Poroshenko's peace plan to be implemented," the EU bloc said in a statement in Luxembourg, the AP reported.
Poroshenko announced his ceasefire last Friday, Kiev reported a spate of armed attacks by rebels on Ukrainian military and border posts over the weekend, according to the AP.
