Ukraine's Poroshenko Agrees on 'Permanent Ceasefire'

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says he is to call a permanent ceasefire following a conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Poroshenko's press office says the conversation the two held over the phone has led to "an agreement on a permanent ceasefire in the Donbass region" in the east of Ukraine.

A mutual understanding regarding the steps leading to peace has also been reached, UNIAN quotes the office as saying.

Poroshenko made the announcement on his own as well, posting the news on Twitter.

His statement, however, was subsequently altered by the Presidential administration, which on Wednesday afternoon read, "Their conversation resulted in agreement on a process for ceasing fire in the Donbass region."

Russia has not confirmed the two presidents agreed on a truce, though Putin's Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said a conversation did take place between them in which they sought a way out of the humanitarian and military crisis.

Peskov has also explained Russia and Ukraine cannot agree on a truce, since Russia is "not a side" in the Donbass conflict.

Donbass rebels in the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic" and "Luhansk People's Republic", however, have not confirmed the announcement.

Ukraine already announced it would temporarily lay down arms on a unilateral basis late on June 30, but reports suggest both sides continued to exchange fire.

Putin and Poroshenko's laters conversation comes against the backdrop of a NATO summit in Wales scheduled for Thursday and Friday at which member states were expected to confirm the decision to step up presence of Alliance forces in Eastern Europe.

US President Barack Obama, who is also to attend the summit, is currently in Estonian capital Tallinn and is expected to discuss the latter country's recent proposal that permanent NATO bases should be established there.

Last week EU leaders also announced urgent measures were to be taken on the Ukraine crisis, with the bloc setting a seven-day ultimatum (until Friday) for Russia to withdraw from the country and deescalate tensions.

The UN says about 2600 people have died since the unrest began in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in April.

Pro-Russian rebels then occupied a number of government buildings and their move was followed by what Kiev called an "anti-terrorist" operation.

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