Poroshenko calls for UN peacekeepers after ceasefire fails to hold in east Ukraine

Days after a new truce deal failed to hold as fighting intensified in eastern Ukraine, President Petro Poroshenko has asked for United Nations peacekeepers to be deployed in the region to enforce a ceasefire.

Poroshenko said during a security meeting that the peacekeeping force would guarantee security "in a situation where the promise of peace is not being kept," reported the BBC.

The statement came after almost 2,500 government troops pulled back from the strategic city of Debaltseve following fierce clashes with pro-Russia separatists.

Ukraine's national security and defence council approved Poroshenko's request at the emergency meeting on Wednesday night.

The offensive launched by the rebels on Debaltseve, despite a ceasefire deal agreed last week, was widely condemned.

The new truce deal agreed in Minsk, which took effect on Sunday, had broadly been observed in eastern Ukraine with both sides withdrawing heavy weaponry from the region.

Rebel spokesman Eduard Basurin said that the town was now "completely under their control," with just "scattered" areas of resistance that were being "neutralised.