Pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine's embattled east have dismissed a ceasefire ordered by President Petro Poroshenko as fake, while nine Ukrainian service members were wounded in clashes in the ceasefire's first few hours.

Separatist leader Pavel Gubarev said in Donetsk that "there is shooting all the time, and this ceasefire that Poroshenko is talking about is just fake".

Otherwise, however, large-scale fighting was not being reported during the opening day of what is to be a six-and-a-half-day stand-down by the Ukrainian military.

Mr Poroshenko ordered the ceasefire starting at 10pm yesterday as a first step in a peace plan that is to include an amnesty for fighters who lay down their arms, and a chance for them to leave the country.