Shyrokyne standoff

In the forests near the city of Zaporizhzhia, training of three new regiments of special Ukrainian units of Azov is underway, although it is believed that those units were destroyed in Mariupol.

It was the second foul by the Ukrainian President in the same day after Azov Battalion member addressed Greek parliament during Zelensky’s speech

Leaders of Russian-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine announced a general military mobilization today after yesterday ordering women and children to be evacuated to southern Russia over the threat of conflict, Reuters reported.

A Russian committee claimed that the civilians found in the area controlled by Russian-backed separatists were killed by Ukrainian shelling

The European Union won't send armed peacekeepers to conflict-torn eastern Ukraine despite reports of ceasefire violations there, European Council President Donald Tusk said on Monday.

"We can only talk about a civilian mission, not military," Tusk told a news conference in Kiev following talks with Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko, according to the BBC.

The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine reported intensified fighting around Donetsk airport and Shyrokyne as well as military movements on both sides of the contact line.

This was stated in the latest report of the SMM, which monitors the implementation of the Minsk agreements.

Fighting in eastern Ukraine has escalated over the past 24 hours, leaving six government troops dead and 12 wounded, a Ukrainian military spokesman said on Tuesday.

The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) in Ukraine plans to complete on Sunday the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line as required by the latest Minsk agreement, ITAR-TASS reported.

"Today we are finalising the withdrawal," Eduard Basurin, a representative of DPR's  defence ministry told the news agency.

Fighting reported near port of Mariupol

KIEV -- Fighting has continued between pro-Russian and Ukrainian army forces near the port of Mariupol on Tuesday.

It is increasingly feared that Mariupol will be the rebels' next target.

The Ukrainian media are saying that there was also shooting in the Debaltsevo and Donetsk areas, breaking "the relative ceasefire."

Pro-Russian forces massing near Ukraine's port city of Mariupol tried to overrun a troop position overnight, Kyiv said on Feb. 23, fuelling concerns for the fate of an internationally brokered ceasefire.