IMF calls on donors to 'step up' for Ukraine

 The International Monetary Fund called Thursday for the international community to come forward with fresh funds for Ukraine, teetering on the edge of default on its huge debts, AFP reports.

IMF spokesman William Murray said a Fund mission is currently in the country assessing its financing needs, and that IMF First Deputy Managing Director David Lipton would likely visit Kiev this weekend.

But with Ukraine's financing deteriorating and the economy crumbling under the weight of the ongoing pro-Moscow uprising in the country's east, Murray said the country needs urgent support all around.

"It's really important that the donor community step up and provide financing to Ukraine," he said.

Earlier this year, the Fund helped piece together a $27 billion global rescue package in the weeks that followed the February ouster in Kiev of Russian-backed president Viktor Yanukovych.

But that has proven insufficient as the war with secessionist groups continues. The IMF has more recently warned Ukraine could need as much as $19 billion more if the continues drags on to the end of 2015.

Earlier, Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said an international donor conference was urgently needed to get the extra money, as much as $15 billion on top of the billions already promised in grants and loans from the West.

"In order to survive in this difficult period and avoid default, we need an international donor conference and the help of our Western partners," he told parliament.