Ukraine rebels to swell ranks by 100,000

Ukrainian troops battled to repel waves of Russian-backed separatists trying to surround a strategic railway hub in eastern Ukraine, while in an ominous sign for peace efforts, the rebels announced plans to boost the size of their armed forces.

Elsewhere, the rebel stronghold of Donetsk came under heavy, sustained shelling once again. City authorities said 15 civilians had been killed over the weekend in the fighting, while Ukraine authorities said five soldiers had been killed and 29 wounded overall in the east in the past day alone.

Since the unrest in eastern Ukraine surged anew in early January, the separatists have made strides in clawing territory away from the government in Kiev. Their main offensive is now directed at Debaltseve — a government-held railway junction once populated by 25,000 people that lies between the rebel-held cities of Luhansk and Donetsk.

Almost 2,000 residents have fled in the last few days alone.

Rebel forces have mounted multiple assaults on government positions in Debaltseve but all were repelled, said a spokesman for Ukrainian military operations in the east, Andriy Lysenko.

“The units that have arrived in support of our troops in Debaltseve are counter-attacking and denying the enemy the opportunity to complete the encirclement,” he said.

Separatist fighters burst through Ukrainian lines last week in the village of Vuhlehirsk, west of Debaltseve, getting access to a ridge overlooking the road running north from the town.

Yesterday, witnesses saw Ukrainian tanks shooting from open fields at the tree line on that ridge. Minutes later, the tanks rolled back onto the road, leaving a heavy trail of mud in their wake, and taking up new field positions nearby.

In a co-ordinated defensive move, Ukrainian forces fired barrages from Grad multiple-rocket launchers towards the same area.

Despite the government’s insistence it intends to retain control of Debaltseve, rows of trenches near a bridge 15km to the north suggested a back-up plan in case the town falls.

Meanwhile, the leader of the separatists in Donetsk, Alexander Zakharchenko, said new mobilisation plans aim to swell the ranks of rebels to 100,000 fighters.

In Budapest, German chancellor Angela Merkel said her country will not provide weapons to Ukraine and supports negotiations and a diplomatic solution to the conflict. “It is my firm belief that this conflict cannot be solved militarily,” Merkel said.

She said she prefers economic sanctions by the EU and negotiations to “solve or at least mitigate the conflict”.

The fighting in eastern Ukraine has claimed more than 5,100 lives and forced 900,000 to flee since April.