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Ukraine said shelling in its eastern conflict zone stopped for the first time in 18 months, raising hopes that a recent truce and renewed diplomatic push will bring peace.

Recent talks that included European leaders and Russia “strengthened my feelings of cautious optimism,” Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Friday in a speech in Kiev. “The cease-fire is in place for almost two weeks and is not a dream anymore.”

Poroshenko urged implementation by year-end of the Minsk peace accord that was sealed in February in Belarus to end fighting between Ukraine’s army and pro-Russian insurgents. He reiterated that local elections planned by the rebels for October and November risk sinking the peace process.

Efforts to follow through on the Minsk commitments are intensifying as the year-end deadline looms and after deaths from the conflict approached 8,000.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that he’s “encouraged by the fact that we have seen a renewed effort to respect” the peace accord.

The war has devastated Ukraine’s economy, turned the hryvnia into one of the world’s worst-performing currencies and prompted the government to restructure $18 billion of foreign debt.

— With assistance by Kateryna Choursina