File Photo: The United Nations Security Council. (Associated Press)
The UN Security Council will meet on Friday to take stock of the latest efforts to prop up a ceasefire in east Ukraine, diplomats said.
The 15-member council has endorsed the February 15 ceasefire reached between Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany to end the 10-month conflict, Europe's worst since the war in the Balkans in the 1990s.
The council will hear a report from UN political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman, human rights official Ivan Simonovic and humanitarian aid operations director John Ging.
The United Nations last week said the death toll from the fighting had reached over 6,000, with hundreds killed in attacks in recent weeks.
The Security Council has held some 30 meetings on the conflict in Ukraine which have often given way to some sharp exchanges between Russia and the Western envoys.
The United States and its European partners accuse Russia of sending troops and military hardware to east Ukraine to prop up separatist fighters, a charge Moscow denies.