The International Monetary Fund said Saturday it had reached a preliminary agreement with Ukraine that could see the war-scarred and cashed-starved nation receive aid in the first half of the year.

"The IMF staff has reached agreement with the Ukrainian authorities on an updated Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies. This paves the way for consideration of the third review of the arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) by the IMF’s Executive Board, together with the 2016 Article IV consultation, in the second half of March," the Fund's Ukrainian mission chief, Ron van Rooden, said in a statement.