Ukraine rebels attack on eve of cease-fire

ARTEMIVSK, UKRAINE — Russian-backed separatists mounted a vicious assault Friday in eastern Ukraine ahead of a weekend cease-fire deadline, pummeling a strategic railway hub with wave upon wave of shelling in a last-minute grab for territory. At least 26 people were killed across the region.

The fiercest confrontations focused on the government-held town of Debaltseve, a key transport center that has been hit with dozens of artillery and rocket salvos in the 24-hour period after the peace deal was sealed Thursday by the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France.

The deadline for the warring sides to halt hostilities is Sunday at one minute after midnight. Interfax-Ukraine news agency quoted Petro Mekhed, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, as saying that separatist forces had been tasked with hoisting their flags over Debaltseve, as well as the key port city of Mariupol, before the cease-fire takes hold.

Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said 11 soldiers had been killed and 40 wounded across eastern Ukraine since the agreement was reached in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. At least eight civilians also died in government-controlled territory, regional authorities loyal to Kiev said, while the rebels said seven ci- Minimum buffer zone vilians were killed in artillery attacks on the separatist-held cities of Luhansk and Horlivka.

The Donbass Battalion, a unit with Ukraine’s National Guard, said in a statement that captured combatants had confirmed that Russian troops were actively involved in the battles.

Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that Moscow would act only as a guarantor in the peace process, and could not affect developments on the ground.“We simply cannot do this physically, because Russia is not a participant in this conflict,” Peskov said.