Kiev demands 'real' ceasefire in Ukraine

Ukraine's foreign minister says his war-torn country needs a "real" ceasefire, a day after Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels agreed on a fresh truce starting on December 9.

Ukraine needs "a ceasefire not in name, but ceasefire in substance," Pavlo Klimkin told reporters in Switzerland on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) focused on the crisis in his country.

"It's about delivery for me. It's not about promises, it's about real delivery on the ground. It's what we do and not what we say," he said on Friday.

Shortly after Klimkin spoke, Ukraine's military said in Kiev that six soldiers were killed in the past 24 hours.

On Thursday Kiev and pro-Russian rebels said they had agreed to halt fire next Tuesday, in an unexpected announcement that provided a glimmer of hope that fighting across the eastern rustbelt of the ex-Soviet nation was nearing an end after eight months that saw 4300 people killed.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday he hoped the latest ceasefire would lead to a final agreement to stop the fighting.

"It is a very difficult situation but I hope parties have come close to concluding a final agreement," he said on the sidelines of the OSCE meeting.

Russia has repeatedly denied accusations from the West that it is arming and militarily supporting the rebels in eastern Ukraine.

But Klimkin insisted that "Russian-backed terrorists" were currently shelling Ukrainian troops up to 40 times a day, resulting in numerous deaths among troops and civilians.

He stressed that the "overriding challenge, the overriding problem for our security was always a lack of trust (and) now we have no trust whatsoever."

What is needed is therefore "deeds on the ground... to achieve a real ceasefire," Klimkin said.