Merkel says Putin pressured Ukraine rebels to accept ceasefire

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday that Russia's Vladimir Putin had put pressure on the pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire from Sunday, which she said offered a "glimmer of hope" for an end to the bloodshed.

"Towards the end President Putin also put pressure on the separatists so that they agreed for a ceasefire from Saturday at 2400 hours, or Sunday at zero hours," Merkel said in comments to reporters in Minsk that were circulated by her office in Berlin.

In 16 hours of talks in the Belarus capital, Ukraine's Petro Poroshenko "did everything to achieve the possibility of an end to the bloodshed", Merkel said.

(Reporting by Stephen Brown; Editing by Madeline Chambers)