Collapsing currency threatens Ukraine

No casualties as hopes that long-awaited ceasefire will hold

Ukraine came under increasing economic pressure from a collapsing currency and a threat to its gas supplies from the Kremlin, just as a long-awaited ceasefire took hold in the east.

As the truce appeared to be coming into force, the Ukrainian army reported no combat fatalities in the past 24 hours, but the news did nothing to halt a currency collapse that forced the central bank to ban most trading.