Putin promised to ask Ukraine rebels to cancel vote - Poroshenko

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko arrives to attend a summit to discuss the conflict in Ukraine at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, October 2, 2015. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Sunday Russia's Vladimir Putin had promised to ask pro-Russian separatists to cancel elections planned in rebel-held territory in defiance of Kiev.

Under terms of a peace agreement signed in Minsk in February, local elections were meant to be held in the separatist regions along with the rest of the former Soviet republic this autumn. But Kiev has since said they cannot take place in the east because of continued security problems there.