Group calls for cease-fire amid upsurge in fighting

UKRAINE: Freezing residents of an eastern Ukraine town battered by an upsurge in fighting between government troops and Russia-backed rebels flocked to a humanitarian aid centre yesterday to receive food and warmth.

Heavy fighting around governmentheld Avdiivka, just north of the rebelstronghold city of Donetsk, began over the weekend and persisted into early yesterday. Donetsk city also was hit. At least 10 people have been killed.

The Ukrainian government and the rebels have blamed each other for the eruption of hostilities, the worst in months.

Both sides have moved heavy artillery, rockets and tanks close to the front line in clear 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 Organisation for the Security and Co-operation in Europe, ended yesterday 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 9700 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 recent escalation is unclear, although Ukraine’s military 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 Defense Minister Ihor Pavlovsky said yesterday.

``The entire Donbass is our territory,’’ he added, referring to the rebelcontrolled areas. –AP