Ukraine leader says he is 'ready' for peace deal with Russia

The 11-week insurgency has killed more than 435 people and shattered the trust built between Moscow and the West

Ukraine's new Western-backed leader said today he was ready to make a peace deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin that could end a separatist insurgency convulsing his ex-Soviet state.

President Petro Poroshenko's decision to extend an olive branch to the Russian strongman came just a day before he signs the final chapters of a historic EU agreement that nudges his country toward eventual membership and pulls it firmly out of Moscow's reach.

The EU accord lies at the heart of a conflict on the eastern edge of Europe that pits the Kremlin against Western powers and ethnic Russians against Ukrainian speakers in the splintered but strategic nation of 46 million.

The West is currently scrambling to save a temporary ceasefire and nascent peace talks that pro-Russian militias that control large swathes of industrial east agreed to at the start of the week.

Poroshenko today pushed back the expiry of the truce -- broken on repeated occasions but still having succeeded in tempering the worst of the violence in the Russified eastern rustbelt -- for a few hours until Friday at 1900 GMT.

Kiev and separatist commanders have also set up a third round of indirect negotiations in the eastern hub of Donetsk that could agree another extension.

"I am ready to make peace with anybody," Poroshenko said in an interview aired late Thursday by CNN.

"I hate the idea of not to use the last opportunity to bring peace to the region," the 48-year-old chocolate baron added in English.

Poroshenko observed that "sometimes the position of Putin is very pragmatic. Sometimes it is very emotional. I try to find the time when he is more pragmatic than emotional".

The Kremlin for its part said Putin assured German Chancellor Angela Merkel that he fully backed the resumption of meaningful dialogue between the warring sides.

The east witnessed sporadic fighting throughout the day today that included a rebel attack on an irregular troops unit stationed in the heart of Donetsk.

The National Guard said none of its personnel had been killed or wounded. The fighting died down after a few hours and the two sides launched negotiations that stretched deep into the night.

The 11-week insurgency has killed more than 435 people and shattered the delicate system of trust that developed between Moscow and the West since the Cold War.