Permanent ceasefire reached between Russia and Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko have agreed to a "permanent ceasefire" in fighting engulfing the east of the ex-Soviet state, the Ukrainian leader's office said on Wednesday.

Putin and Poroshenko held a telephone exchange "that resulted in an agreement for a permanent ceasefire in Donbass (eastern Ukraine)," the Ukrainian president's office said in a statement.