The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the Sunni militant group that’s been leading an insurgency in Iraq, made a bold statement today: The organization’s Shura Council has declared a new caliphate, and the organization’s extremist leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is the new caliph.

As Al-Jazeera explains, the caliphate refers to a “system of rule that ended nearly 100 years ago with the fall of the Ottoman empire.” According to the network’s reading of the statement, the new caliphate “stretches from Iraq’s Diyala province to Syria’s Aleppo.”

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Ukraine’s new Western-backed president faces pressure to negotiate with top rebel commanders after a surprise turnabout in which the pro-Russian insurgents agreed to a truce and talks on ending their uprising.

In an unexpected announcement that came after talks with Russia’s ambassador to Kiev and an OSCE envoy, the head of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic on Monday said he was dropping his demand for an immediate Ukrainian troop withdrawal.

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Ukraine’s president ordered his forces to cease fire Friday and halt military operations for a week against pro-Russian separatists in the country’s east — the first step in a peace plan he hopes will end the fighting that has killed hundreds.

The Kremlin dismissed the plan, saying it sounded like an ultimatum and lacked any firm offer to open talks with insurgents.

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Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists were locked in fierce fighting in the east of Ukraine on Thursday and a rebel commander acknowledged big losses among separatists heavily outgunned by government forces.

Even as President Petro Poroshenko and his team prepared to unveil their blueprint for ending more than two months of rebellion, government forces, using artillery and heavy armor, said they were tightening the noose on separatists near Krasny Liman, north of the main regional hub of Donetsk.

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More than 250 militant separatists have been “killed” in the last 24 hours in eastern Ukraine and more of them were russian citizens.

Said it Kyiv Defence Minister, Mikhailo Koval, in a meeting with president Petro Poroshenko.

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