(VOVworld) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said a "real" cease-fire is now in place in eastern Ukraine. Speaking on Friday during a visit to Australia, Poroshenko said that for the first time in seven months, Ukraine's military went a full day without suffering a single casualty. He said the latest 24-hour period had passed without incident and that if the cease-fire held it would be "a great step toward peace and stability in Ukraine."

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko speaks at the Lowy Institute, a policy think tank, in Sydney on December 12. Photo: AFP

The fresh cease-fire signed earlier this month between the Ukraine military and the opposition in eastern Ukraine went into effect on Tuesday. It is hoped this will end the conflict in eastern Ukraine that has killed some 4,300 people in the past 8 months over the past 8 months, and forced approximately 1 million people to flee their homes. The first ceasefire between the Kiev government and the self-proclaimed Republic of Donetsk and Lugansk, signed on September 5^th in Minsk, Belarus, was violated just hours later.