Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels have "agreed in principle" on a ceasefire in the eastern war-torn region of Lugansk, one of the ex-Soviet state's two separatists provinces, the OSCE says.
"All agreed in principle to a total ceasefire along the entire line of contact between Ukrainian Armed Forces and those under control of the (Lugansk People's Republic), to be effective from 5 December," the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said in a statement released late on Monday.
"They also agreed that the withdrawal of heavy weapons would start on 6 December," the statement added.
The two sides signed a Russian-brokered truce on September 5 in the Belarussian capital Minsk that helped stem some of the bloodiest fighting, but it has been frequently broken and followed by hundreds of deaths on both sides.
The heaviest battles now rage around the devastated airport of the main rebel-held city of Donetsk, centre of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic that also proclaimed independence from Kiev.
Fighting has intensified at the airport in recent days, but a separatist source said a new round of negotiations about a broader Donetsk ceasefire would begin on Tuesday afternoon.
The Ukrainian military announced on Monday that a temporary truce had been agreed for the territory surrounding the Donetsk airport, although an AFP reporter heard heavy shelling in the area on Tuesday morning.
The rebel source said the negotiations would involve senior Ukrainian military figures and General Alexander Lentsov - the deputy head of the Russian ground forces.
