Russian president Vladimir Putin has suggested that the US is already delivering weapons to Ukraine.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has suggested that the United States is already delivering weapons to Ukraine.

Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine have said they will begin withdrawing heavy weaponry from the sections of the front line where the ceasefire holds.

Intense artillery exchanges between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatists have persisted around a strategic town in eastern Ukraine – fighting that threatens to dash a ceasefire deal brokered by European leaders last week.

The Ukrainian government and Russia-backed rebels have each accused the other of violating a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine.

Fighting in eastern Ukraine has intensified ahead of much-anticipated peace talks, with both sides claiming significant advances and the government accusing rebels of shelling a town far behind the front line.

Pro-Russia rebels and Ukrainian authorities have agreed on a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians from the epicentre of fighting in eastern Ukraine as German and French leaders prepare to take a peace plan to Moscow.

Artillery fire in eastern Ukraine has killed at least eight people and wounded 22 others in the past day, rebels in the separatist stronghold of Donetsk said.