国际英语新闻:Ukrainian, French, German leaders urge truce consolidation in eastern Ukraine

KIEV, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday called for more efforts to consolidate a newly-declared ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, Poroshenko's press service said.

At a phone conversation, the three leaders also stressed the importance of continuing implementation of the Minsk ceasefire agreement, the press service said in a statement posted on the Ukrainian presidential website.

The newly declared ceasefire came into force in eastern Ukraine at midnight on Saturday. Since then, the intensity of fighting has dropped, but the conflicting parties have reported about sporadic violations of the truce.

The conflict between government troops and pro-independence rebels in eastern Ukraine has been underway since April 2014, claiming some 10,000 lives.

The 13-point Minsk agreement, outlining the steps needed to end the conflict, was reached in February 2015 in talks involving leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France.