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KIEV, Ukraine (AP) The International Monetary Fund agreed Wednesday to extend $17.5 billion in loans to Ukraine as part of a program designed to pull the country back from the verge of economic collapse.

IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said in a statement that the new four-year extended arrangement will support economic stabilization and wide-ranging reforms in Ukraine.

Ukraine's Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko said earlier in the day that the government expected to receive $5 billion from the IMF in the "coming days."

Credit is being extended on condition that the government in Kiev implements deep structural reforms and slashes government spending.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed off on legislative measures to drastically reduce spending and also approved changes to the tax system.

"This fully carries out Ukraine's side of the agreements that were reflected in a memorandum with the IMF," Poroshenko said Wednesday at a joint press conference in Kiev with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven.

Lagarde hailed Ukraine's "strong commitment to reform."

"They have maintained fiscal discipline in very difficult conditions, allowed the exchange rate to adjust, and have increased retail end-user prices for gas," she said in a statement.

Lagarde said measures would be taken to help cushion the poorest from the impact of adjustments.

Utility prices have risen across the board in recent weeks and inflation has taken large chunks out salaries. The government budget for 2015 is based on what many analysts believe is an optimistic projection of a 5.5 percent contraction in the economy.

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IMF approves $17.5Bn credit program for Ukraine

Ukraine accused pro-Russia separatists of launching 112 attacks on government positions during the first day of a cease-fire as both sides cast doubt on their likelihood to comply with the next stage of the peace plan -- withdrawing heavy weaponry from the war zone.

Fighting was most intense around the Debaltseve rail junction where the government and separatists have been battling for control for weeks. Five Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 25 were injured, Col. Andriy Lysenko of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council told reporters in Kiev.

The Ukrainian and Russian presidents agreed at peace talks in the Belarus capital of Minsk last week that all hostilities would cease as of Sunday and the two warring factions would begin pulling back heavy weaponry from the front lines Tuesday.

"Fulfillment of the first provision of the Minsk agreements is mandatory for the pullout of heavy weapons from the line of contact. One hundred and twelve attacks are not an indicator of a cease-fire," Lysenko said. "At the moment we are not ready to withdraw heavy weapons."

Separatist military leader Eduard Basurin also signaled that the Russian proxies would withdraw their artillery only if they see Ukrainian troops complying with the next step of the Minsk agreement.

"We will begin pulling back equipment from the line of contact if we receive a certain signal, which is if the Ukrainians also do the same thing, Basurin was quoted as saying by Russia's Interfax news agency.

The rail hub at Debaltseve, which the insurgents want to control so they can shuttle supplies and fighters between their strongholds in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, is reportedly surrounded by separatist gunmen.

The encircled government troops, which some reports number as high as 7,000, were offered safe passage out of rebel-held territory in exchange for surrendering their weapons, separatist officials told reporters in Donetsk. There was no immediate reply by the government, which made clear its intent to hold on to Debaltseve when it deployed thousands of newly recruited troops to the area last month.

A monitoring mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which has been patrolling eastern Ukraine since April, was blocked by separatist gunmen from entering Debaltseve on Sunday, the Vienna-based organization reported Monday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, who brokered the cease-fire during a 16-hour negotiating marathon last week, spoke by telephone late Monday with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to discuss concerns about the continued fighting over Debaltseve.

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