Ukraine rebels on Tuesday proposed postponing the date of local elections in separatist parts of east Ukraine to February 2016 in an effort to lift peacemaking out of a "stalemate," according to a statement posted on separatist website LITs.

Under the terms of the much-violated Minsk peace agreement, reached in February, local elections in the separatist regions were meant to be held in tandem with the rest of the former Soviet republic this autumn.

But the Ukrainian government has since said they cannot take place due to security and monitoring concerns.