Ukrainian separatist rebels have agreed to take part in further peace talks on Friday to end the conflict in Ukraine's eastern regions, Interfax news agency said on Thursday.
"There is an agreement to hold a round of consultations on June 27 in Donetsk," Andrei Purgin, a senior figure in the leadership of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, was quoted as saying.
Earlier, speaking in Strasbourg, France, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he had just heard of the rebels' readiness to meet again with the so-called "contact group" which includes former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, Moscow's envoy to Kiev and a high-ranking official from the OSCE security and rights watchdog.
But Ukrainian media quoted him as hinting heavily that there would be no extension of a government ceasefire, which officially ends at 10 p.m. on Friday, unless Kiev was satisfied with the results of Friday's talks.
"It (Friday) is a very important day: if our conditions for the peace plan are not accepted, then we will make a very important decision," he was quoted as saying by Ukrainska Pravda online newspaper.
Poroshenko, who was speaking at the Council of Europe on Thursday and will sign a landmark free trade agreement with the European Union in Brussels on Friday, has offered rebel fighters an amnesty and safe conduct out of the country if they lay down their arms and cease hostilities.
He is also offering to people in the mainly Russian-speaking east broader Russian-language rights and will next week present a decentralisation plan aimed at allowing the regions more control over their own finances and affairs.
Also on Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin for the second time in two days to discuss how to help resolve the crisis in eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin said.
The call took place "at the initiative of the German side" and touched on questions of "monitoring observance of the ceasefire between the sides in conflict, the necessity of extending the truce, the establishment of regular work by the contact group and the freeing of people being forcibly detained", the Kremlin said.
A German government spokesman confirmed that the call had taken place, with the aim of finding a way to prolong the Ukrainian government's ceasefire, due to expire at 10 p.m. (1900 GMT) on Friday.
Kerry:
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was not speaking about possible sanctions timing when he said Russia had "hours" to move on disarming Ukraine separatists, the State Department said on Thursday.
"The secretary wasn't outlining specific timing for additional sanctions but underscoring the need that this needs to happen quickly," spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters in a briefing.
"We've been very clear that we remain prepared to impose additional sanctions, including sectoral, should circumstances warrant," she also said. "We have in place the infrastructure to do this very quickly if we want to."
REUTERS