TROOPS, REBELS BATTLE IN UKRAINE

AVDIIVKA, UKRAINE • Freezing residents of a Ukraine town battered by an upsurge in fighting between government troops and Russia-backed rebels flocked to an aid centre Wednesday to receive food and warm up.

Heavy fighting around government-held Avdiivka, just north of the rebel-stronghold city of Donetsk, began over the weekend and persisted into early Wednesday. Donetsk city also was hit.

At least 10 people have been killed since Monday and dozens wounded.

The Ukrainian government and the rebels have blamed each other for the eruption of hostilities, the worst in months. Both sides have moved artillery, rockets and tanks close to the front line in violation of a peace deal struck two years ago.

An urgent meeting of the so-called Contact Group, which brings together representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the rebels along with the Organization for the Security and Co-operation in Europe, ended Wednesday in Minsk, Belarus. The group called for the opposing sides to cease fire and urged them to pull back their heavy weapons by the end of the week.

Separatist rebels have been fighting government troops and volunteer brigades in eastern Ukraine since April, 2014, in clashes that have killed more than 9,700 people. The peace deal signed in February, 2015, called for a ceasefire, for heavy weapons to be pulled back from the front lines and for a political resolution of the conflict.

The agreement has been observed only fitfully and skirmishes and artillery fire have persisted.

What sparked the escalation is unclear, although Ukraine has acknowledged its troops have gained some ground around Avdiivka. “Step by step, metre by metre, our boys have heroically moved forward,” Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Ihor Pavlovsky told reporters in Kyiv on Wednesday. “The entire Donbass is our territory,” he added, referring to the rebel-controlled areas.

The fighting has caused power outages amid a cold snap, with temperatures in Avdiivka as low as -18C.

In Donetsk, residents reported incessant outgoing and incoming artillery salvos throughout the night and in the morning, an intensity not seen in months.

Each warring party could find negotiation benefits in the resumption of hostilities.

The Ukrainian government, concerned the new U.S. administration might take a comparatively soft line on Russia, could point to the escalation as evidence Russia cannot be trusted.

But by showing the strength of the rebels and their Russian backers, the fighting could send a signal to Washington that Moscow holds power in the region and the U.S. should offer concessions if it wants peace in Ukraine.