KIEV: Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday postponed local elections that Kiev had said were illegitimate and which, if they went ahead, could have derailed Ukraine’s fragile peace process.

The separatists instead said the elections would go ahead in February next year, potentially giving time for international mediators to hammer out a compromise agreement under which Kiev can accept the vote.

The concession by the separatists comes at a time when Russia has adopted a more constructive tone in talks over Ukraine, according to diplomats involved in the discussion who say Russia has influence over the rebels.

“(We) announce the consent of the Luhansk and Donetsk peoples’ republics to postpone elections from 18 October and 1 November to next year,” separatist envoys to the peace talks were quoted as saying by the DAN news agency, based in the main separatist-controlled city of Donetsk.

Under the terms of a peace agreement signed in Minsk in February, local elections were meant to be held on Oct. 25 in the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, along with the rest of the former Soviet republic.

But Kiev has since said they cannot take place in the east because of continued security problems there. It said they would only be legitimate if held under Ukrainian state control, but Kiev’s writ does not run in parts of the two regions.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said this weekend that Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin had promised to ask pro-Russian separatists to cancel elections planned in rebel-held territory in defiance of Kiev.

The decision to postpone followed last week’s talks between the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany, who met to discuss the Ukraine peace process.