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PARIS/KYIV: France suspended the planned delivery of a warship to Russia on Tuesday, after months of growing speculation about what would be the biggest arms sale ever by a Nato country to the Kremlin.

The French president’s office announced the suspension “until further notice” after growing pressure from allies to suspend the sale because of tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

The first of the two ships, the Vladivostok, is docked at the French port city of Saint Nazaire, where about 400 Russian sailors have spent months training aboard the vessel.

The second ship, named the Sevastopol, after a port in the Russia-annexed Crimean Peninsula, was slated for delivery next year and recently arrived at the Saint Nazaire docks for finishing touches.

Tuesday’s statement, like a previous suspension of the delivery, stopped short of cancelling the deal, suggesting the French government is reluctant give up on a contract worth more than 1 billion euros and thousands of jobs at a time of an economic slump in France. The Vladivostok can carry 700 troops, 16 helicopter gunships, and up to 50 armoured vehicles.

Analysts have said the warships would give Russia an enhanced ability to move large numbers of troops and equipment, but were not game-changers for Moscow’s military.

Russia’s deputy defence minister told RIA Novosti news agency on Tuesday that Moscow was not planning to take any immediate action against France for delaying the deal.

“We are satisfied, it is the French who are not satisfied, and we are going to patiently wait,” said Yury Brosiov. “Everything is spelled out in the contract, and we are going to act in accord to the contract like all civilised people.”

Meanwhile, pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine called on Tuesday for an emergency UN Security Council session that could authorise sending international peacekeepers into the war zone.

The leadership of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic said in a statement it was seeking “the intervention of a peacekeeping force that includes Russian representatives to control the implementation of existing agreements and help resolve the humanitarian and social situation”.

The Ukrainian government reacted with scepticism to the request, seeing it as an excuse to invite Russian troops — who Kyiv says are already covertly taking part in the war — onto its territory.

“Russian peacekeepers have already more than enough filled the territory of Ukraine. They should be pulled back (to Russia) instead of sending more to Ukraine,” foreign ministry spokesman Yevgen Perebyinis said.

The government signed a ceasefire with the separatist rebels in September but the truce has failed to end the seven months of fighting.

Almost 1,000 people have been killed since then, the United Nations said last week — an average of 13 people a day.

The Donetsk authorities said on Tuesday that three more civilians had been killed by shelling in the past 24 hours, including two killed when a shell hit a minibus near the city airport that has been the scene of some of the fiercest battles.