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| Fighting Escalates Ahead of Ukraine Truce, Government Forces Surrounded at Rail Hub | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| ARTEMIVSK, Ukraine — Government forces trapped in a strategic railway hub in eastern Ukraine came under heavy assault on Friday as Russian-backed rebel fighters sought to exploit the window ahead of a weekend cease-fire. | |
| Artillery shelling and gunfire reverberated in the area around the railway hub, Debaltseve, just south of this front-line town of Artemivsk, where rebel troops reportedly severed the last land route into town, leaving government forces surrounded. At least 18 people were reported to have died. | |
| In a hospital courtyard here, ambulance crews hurriedly wheeled about bloodied, freshly wounded soldiers. | In a hospital courtyard here, ambulance crews hurriedly wheeled about bloodied, freshly wounded soldiers. |
| Medical helicopters buzzed in and out through the day. At a school, teachers herded children indoors when the booms of artillery started rattling windows. | Medical helicopters buzzed in and out through the day. At a school, teachers herded children indoors when the booms of artillery started rattling windows. |
| The escalation came a day after the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany negotiated a new cease-fire agreement, the second in the nearly year-old war. The new pact left many issues unresolved, and many diplomats consider it fragile. | |
| Still, it is considered the best hope of resolving the conflict, which has left more than 5,000 people dead and raised tensions between Russia and the West to their highest since the Cold War era. | Still, it is considered the best hope of resolving the conflict, which has left more than 5,000 people dead and raised tensions between Russia and the West to their highest since the Cold War era. |
| But rather than the hoped-for calm, the cease-fire appeared instead to cause a sharp escalation. | But rather than the hoped-for calm, the cease-fire appeared instead to cause a sharp escalation. |
| The agreement provided for a two-day lag between the signing on Thursday in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, and the implementation here in eastern Ukraine at midnight on Saturday. Ukraine’s president, Petro O. Poroshenko, said it was a concession to the Russian-backed militants and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. | The agreement provided for a two-day lag between the signing on Thursday in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, and the implementation here in eastern Ukraine at midnight on Saturday. Ukraine’s president, Petro O. Poroshenko, said it was a concession to the Russian-backed militants and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. |
| A frantic, bloody last-minute land grab ensued, with the government-held town of Debaltseve a focus of the fighting. Debaltseve lies about halfway between Donetsk and Luhansk, the two redoubts of pro-Russian insurgents in eastern Ukraine. | |
| After the overnight talks, Mr. Putin said Mr. Poroshenko refused to acknowledge that the separatist forces had surrounded up to 8,000 Ukrainian soldiers in Debaltseve, but the Russian leader said he hoped that consultations between military commanders would settle that matter. | After the overnight talks, Mr. Putin said Mr. Poroshenko refused to acknowledge that the separatist forces had surrounded up to 8,000 Ukrainian soldiers in Debaltseve, but the Russian leader said he hoped that consultations between military commanders would settle that matter. |
| The agreement requires that Ukraine and the rebels observe a cease-fire starting at midnight on Saturday, then withdraw heavy weapons from the front line within two weeks. Later, Ukraine must restore pensions and public sector wage payments to separatists areas and amend its Constitution to allow for greater local autonomy. If these provisions are fulfilled, Russia is to return control over a section of the eastern Ukrainian border by the end of this year. | The agreement requires that Ukraine and the rebels observe a cease-fire starting at midnight on Saturday, then withdraw heavy weapons from the front line within two weeks. Later, Ukraine must restore pensions and public sector wage payments to separatists areas and amend its Constitution to allow for greater local autonomy. If these provisions are fulfilled, Russia is to return control over a section of the eastern Ukrainian border by the end of this year. |
| “What we have on the table today gives us great hope,” said Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, who helped lead the mediation effort in Minsk. | “What we have on the table today gives us great hope,” said Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, who helped lead the mediation effort in Minsk. |
| “There is a real chance to turn things around toward the better,” she said, but added, “we have no illusions.” | “There is a real chance to turn things around toward the better,” she said, but added, “we have no illusions.” |
| On Friday, a Ukrainian military spokesman, Andriy Lysenko, said 11 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and 40 wounded in fighting after the cease-fire agreement and in the first day of the window before its implementation. Mr. Lysenko said separatists had fired artillery at more than 30 towns and villages in the east. | On Friday, a Ukrainian military spokesman, Andriy Lysenko, said 11 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and 40 wounded in fighting after the cease-fire agreement and in the first day of the window before its implementation. Mr. Lysenko said separatists had fired artillery at more than 30 towns and villages in the east. |
| In a sign the Ukrainian army, too, was trying to land blows before midnight Saturday, three children were reported wounded by artillery in the rebel-held town of Horlivka. | In a sign the Ukrainian army, too, was trying to land blows before midnight Saturday, three children were reported wounded by artillery in the rebel-held town of Horlivka. |
| Some of the most intense fighting broke out along a tenuous, 31-mile Ukrainian supply route into the town of Debaltseve within hours of the signing. | Some of the most intense fighting broke out along a tenuous, 31-mile Ukrainian supply route into the town of Debaltseve within hours of the signing. |
| Soldiers and medical crews interviewed here say rebels now control the road, and as evidence pointed to the ambulances and resupply trucks blown up by mines that now pepper a stretch of the route. | Soldiers and medical crews interviewed here say rebels now control the road, and as evidence pointed to the ambulances and resupply trucks blown up by mines that now pepper a stretch of the route. |
| “I don’t know what happened,” Alla G. Neschadym, a nurse at the Artemivsk Central Regional Hospital, said in an interview about the battle that she said began in the late afternoon Thursday. “But I saw the results. The wounded came in all night long.” | |
| The casualties flowed in from positions along the road. Soldiers were wounded by shrapnel from mortars and rockets, from gunfire and in explosions when their vehicles hit mines. | |
| In one explosion, one soldier suffered damage to both eyes and “will probably be blind,” Ms. Neschadym said. | |
| From Jan. 6 until Feb. 11, she said, the hospital treated 1,004 wounded soldiers, or about 46 per day, while overnight Thursday to Friday after the cease-fire signing, doctors treated 97 wounded soldiers in a frantic, bloody scene. By Friday, most of the wounded had been evacuated further from the front, but a stack of bloody stretchers remained in the hospital hallway. |