Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko has said government forces are withdrawing from the besieged eastern town of Debaltseve.
Poroshenko said on Wednesday that 80 percent of Ukraine's forces have withdrawn and another two columns were preparing to leave the town - a key transport hub for which government forces and pro-Russian separatists have waged a lengthy battle to control
"This morning the Ukrainian armed forces together with the National Guard completed an operation for a planned and organised withdrawal from Debaltseve," Poroshenko said in an audio message released by his press service.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday called on all sides in the Ukrainian conflict to cease hostilities.
"We share concerns on the situation in Debaltseve," Lavrov said in a joint press briefing with his counterpart from Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia.
"But we believe that in order to calm this situation down it is necessary to stop using weapons trying to change the status quo which was at midnight on February 15," Lavrov said.
Earlier, pro-government forces had reported the retreat was under way after an offensive by pro-Russian fighters.
Rebels say the current ceasefire, negotiated by Ukraine, Russia, Germany, and France at a summit in Belarus last week, does not apply to Debaltseve, which links the two rebel-controlled regions of eastern Ukraine - Donetsk and Luhansk.
"The actions by the Russia-backed separatists in Debaltseve are a clear violation of the ceasefire," European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in Brussels, stepping up Western criticism of the rebel offensive on Debaltseve.
Prior to Poroshenko's announcement, Al Jazeera's Paul Brennan, reporting from just outside Debaltseve, said there were plumes of black smoke over the town and it appeared that the fighting was ongoing.
"It is a bloody nose for the Ukrainian military, if they lose this town," he said.
Our correspondent added that losing the town would indicate that Ukraine's forces were unable to fend off a sustained attack from pro-Russian forces.
"To lose it would be both a strategic loss and a loss from a morale point of view," he said.
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