News agencies cited sources from both sides in the conflict on Friday, who said they had agreed to lay down their arms for several hours so that civilians caught in the crossfire in the eastern Ukraine town of Debaltseve could be evacuated.

"They have agreed a truce for Friday in the area around Debaltseve for the evacuation of the civilian population," the AFP news agency quoted Ukrainian Interior Ministry official Vyacheslav Abroskin as saying.

Reuters cited witnesses who saw convoys of dozens of empty buses being escorted by OSCE monitors, rebel police and military vehicles heading towards Debaltseve from rebel-held territory in both the east as west of the town, which is held by government forces. It also appeared that both sides were holding their fire so that the evacuation of a few thousand civilians could proceed.

The rebels have been pounding the town for days in an effort to dislodge the government troops from Debaltseve, which is regarded as strategically significant as it straddles a railway line that connects Donetsk with the other major rebel-held town, Luhansk.

European peace initiative

The town's humanitarian truce comes with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande set to travel to Moscow later on Friday for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The West has accused Russia of stoking the fires of war in eastern Ukraine by supporting pro-Russia separatists with weapons and fighters - something the Kremlin has denied.

The two European leaders put the plan to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko during a meeting in Kyiv on Thursday, but both Merkel and Hollande declined to comment after their talks. Prior to their meeting, however, Poroshenko said their initiative raised "hope for a ceasefire."

'Territorial integrity of Ukraine'

No details of the European peace initiative have been released but before leaving Paris on Thursday, Hollande told reporters that in their talks in Kyiv and Moscow he and Merkel would "propose a new solution to the conflict based on the territorial integrity of Ukraine." Officials have released no further details about the proposal.

Also in Kyiv on Thursday was US Secretary of State John Kerry, whose visit came at a time when Washington was reported to be considering starting weapons deliveries to Ukraine. Kerry told a press conference that US President Barack Obama was "reviewing all his options" but that Washington was "not interested in a proxy war."

In Brussels, meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday that in light of the events in eastern Ukraine, the alliance's defense ministers had agreed to proceed with the formation of a quick-reaction force of 5,000 ground troops and boost the size of its Response Force from 13,00 to 30,000 personnel.

pfd/sms (Reuters, AP, AFP)