Minsk, Feb 12 (IANS): A ceasefire will begin in eastern Ukraine Feb 15, the leaders of Russia and Ukraine have announced, Thursday here.

"We have managed to agree on the main issues," Russian President Vladimir Putin said after marathon talks with Ukraine's Petro Poroshenko, as well the leaders of France and Germany, BBC reported.

French President Francois Hollande said a "serious deal" had been reached, although work remained to be done.

Thousands of people have been killed in the fighting in the east of Ukraine.

The meeting in Belarus -- which lasted for about 17 hours -- was focused on securing a ceasefire, withdrawal of heavy weapons and creating a demilitarised zone in Eastern Ukraine.

Putin said the agreement also established a line from which heavy weaponry would be pulled back. Ukraine's pro-Russian rebels have accepted the deal, the leaders said.

Hollande said he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel would ask their European Union partners to support it at a summit later in the day.

Earlier during a break Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said the conditions put forth by Russia in the ongoing negotiations over the conflict in Ukraine are "unacceptable".

Full details of the agreement are yet to be released.

A previous ceasefire deal was agreed in September last year, also in Minsk, which broke down amid continued fighting.