YENAKIEVE, Ukraine (Reuters) – Separatist rockets streaked across hills in eastern Ukraine yesterday as rebels pounded the positions of Ukrainian government troops holding a strategic rail town, while both sides prepared to mobilise more forces for combat.
US officials said Washington was taking a “fresh look” at providing Ukraine with lethal aid after a surge of violence following the collapse of a new peace effort on Saturday, although they emphasised that no decision had yet been made.
Kiev’s military said five more Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in clashes, while municipal authorities in the rebel-controlled city of Donetsk said 15 civilians had been killed by shelling at the weekend.
Talks between Ukraine, Russia and rebel officials in Minsk, Belarus, had raised hopes of a new ceasefire to stem the violence in a conflict that has claimed more than 5,000 lives. But they broke up without progress with Ukraine and the separatists accusing each other of sabotaging the meeting.
Donetsk reverberated to the thud of artillery and mortar fire through the night and several homes were destroyed with at least one civilian death yesterday.
Separatists kept up attacks on Debaltseve, a strategic rail hub to the northeast of Donetsk, in an attempt to dislodge government forces there.
The outskirts of Yenakieve and Vuhlegirsk, both on the main highway to Debaltseve, were under heavy artillery fire as rebel multiple rocket launchers and artillery pummelled the positions of Ukrainian troops in the area.
At one point, a salvo of around three dozen rockets fired from rebel positions screamed across surrounding hills towards Debaltseve. It was followed 15 minutes later by incoming fire from government forces.
“The toughest situation is around Debaltseve where the illegal armed formations are continuing to storm the positions of Ukrainian military,” military spokesman Andriy Lutsenko told a briefing. But he said Ukraine’s forces in the town were enough to hold it and he denied that government forces were encircled.
According to Kiev officials, January was one of the bloodiest months in eastern Ukrainesince the conflict erupted. Regional police spokesman Vyacheslav Abroskin said 112 civilians had been killed by separatist shelling and attacks.
The rebels, in a statement quoted by Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency, said 242 civilians had been killed in the month as well as 92 of their number.
The separatists, who the West says are armed by Russia and supported by several thousand Russian troops, defiantly announced a general mobilisation plan which they said would boost their fighting forces to 100,000 men.
