Debaltseve

Fighting raged around a key railway hub in eastern Ukraine on Monday despite a ceasefire agreement that officially went into force a day earlier.

A shaky truce in Ukraine was already at risk on its second day Feb. 16 with both the Kyiv government and pro-Russian separatists accusing each other of attacks holding up an agreed pull-back of heavy weapons from the frontline.
       

The OSCE monitoring mission to Ukraine reported that the ceasefire, which entered into force on Sunday, was largely observed during the first hours, except in Debaltseve, Raihorodka and Luhansk.

The OSCE monitors were denied access to the key transport hub of Debaltseve, where fighting has continued.

Two civilians were killed by rebel rocket fire shortly after the start of a ceasefire in east Ukraine on Feb 15., a pro-Kyiv official said, but fighting reportedly died down across most of the conflict zone.
      

A ceasefire beginning on Sunday is mostly being observed, media outlets report.

Though several incidents have been reported, pro-Russia rebels acting in the regions around Donetsk and Luhansk, eastern Ukraine, say they do not constitute a severe violation to the agreement.

More than 30 soldiers were killed on Friday in Ukraine as fighting in rebel-controlled eastern regions continued unabated despite a ceasefire deal with the government brokered by leaders of Germany, France and Russia.

More than twenty people were killed in eastern Ukraine on the eve of the peace talks that are scheduled to take place in Minsk on Wednesday.

The Ukrainian army lost nineteen soldiers, the majority of them killed near the key transport hub of Debaltseve, which has been surrounded by the separatists, the BBC reports.

At least seven Ukrainian soldiers and five civilians have been killed in the latest fighting in the east of the country, including in battleground town Debaltseve, Kyiv and rebels said Feb. 10.
      
"Seven soldiers were killed and 23 wounded in fighting and attacks on their positions," military spokesman Vladislav Seleznev told journalists in Kyiv.
      

A temporary truce is in force in the Ukrainian city of Debaltseve, both Kiev officials and pro-Russian forces have confirmed.

An artillery shell hit a hospital in the rebel-controlled city of Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine, on Wednesday, killing and wounding civilians.

The city administration said on its website the shell hit at 1200 local time and several school buildings had also suffered in the explosion.