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Ukraine conflict: Battles rage ahead of Minsk talks | |
(about 2 hours later) | |
Fighting has surged in eastern Ukraine as government forces and pro-Russian rebels try to make gains ahead of possible peace talks on Wednesday. | |
Separatist forces have carried out rocket attacks on a key military headquarters and a residential area at Kramatorsk, officials say. | |
Meanwhile, Ukraine's volunteer Azov battalion has launched an offensive against separatists around Mariupol. | |
More than 5,400 people have died since the conflict began last April. | |
The leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany hope to meet in the Belarusian capital Minsk on Wednesday to hammer out a peace deal after months of fighting. | |
Russia denies Western and Ukrainian accusations of sending troops and supplying the rebels and has warned the West that sending arms to Ukraine would worsen the crisis. | |
US President Barack Obama said on Monday that he had not ruled out supplying "lethal defensive weapons" to Ukraine if diplomacy failed. | |
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told parliament on Tuesday that the government's military headquarters at Kramatorsk airfield had been shelled by rebels on Tuesday. | |
Three people were killed and 15 wounded when a residential area was also hit, local authorities said. | |
The city, some distance west of the conflict zone, was the scene of major fighting until July, when pro-Russian separatists retreated. | |
The separatists denied firing the rockets, Reuters reports. | |
Meanwhile Andriy Biletsky, commander of the Azov battalion - an ultra-nationalist volunteer force based in Mariupol affiliated with Ukraine's interior ministry - confirmed to the BBC that its fighters were advancing and fighting pro-Russian rebels outside the southern port city. | |
"We have taken the villages of Shyrokine, Pavlovo, Kominternovo. We are currently moving towards Novoazovsk." | "We have taken the villages of Shyrokine, Pavlovo, Kominternovo. We are currently moving towards Novoazovsk." |
Rebels launched an offensive on Mariupol last month, leaving dozens dead in rocket attacks. | Rebels launched an offensive on Mariupol last month, leaving dozens dead in rocket attacks. |
The Ukrainian government said that separatists appeared to be massing forces for attacks on strategic towns, including Mariupol, on Saturday, according to Reuters news agency. | |
The port city lies in a key coastal position between rebel-controlled areas and the Crimean peninsula. | |
Russia's Ria news agency reported on Tuesday that more than 600 Russian troops had started exercises in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia last year. | Russia's Ria news agency reported on Tuesday that more than 600 Russian troops had started exercises in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia last year. |
The surge in fighting comes a day after separatists said they had cut off a key supply road to Debaltseve, a railway hub near the rebel-held city of Donetsk. The military says the battle is ongoing. | |
At least seven Ukrainian troops were killed overnight in the east, Ukrainian military spokesman Anatoliy Matyukhin said. In Donetsk, two civilians were killed. | |
The Kremlin warned the West ahead of Wednesday's proposed peace talks against sending weapons to the Ukrainian government or putting pressure on Russia. | |
Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that any talk about imposing new sanctions on Russia or arming the Ukraine government would destabilise the situation in Ukraine. | Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that any talk about imposing new sanctions on Russia or arming the Ukraine government would destabilise the situation in Ukraine. |
Rebel leaders and representatives of Russia, Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) are expected to meet in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, on Tuesday for talks in the run-up to the possible leaders' summit on Wednesday. | |
The Ukrainian ambassador to Germany said there had been "tangible results" at talks in Berlin between foreign ministry representatives of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France on Monday. | |
Meanwhile German Chancellor Angela Merkel met US President Barack Obama in Washington to update him on Franco-German efforts to revive last year's Minsk peace plan, which collapsed amid fighting over the winter. | |
The detailed proposals have not been released but the plan is thought to include a demilitarised zone of 50-70km (30-45 miles) around the current front line. | |
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