Ukraine Troops Surrounded in Debaltseve

Local Editor

Pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine said they had encircled the town of Debaltseve - but Ukraine refuted saying its troops were still fighting along a supply road.

Debaltseve is a strategic town which is a key railway junction and had been the focus of intense fighting for more than a week.

Ukrainian officials said at least nine soldiers and seven civilians had died in fighting in the town.

Earlier, US President Barack Obama said he had not ruled out supplying arms to Ukraine if diplomacy failed. German Chancellor Angela Merkel on her part opposed sending weapons to the warring sides.

According to the report, the Russian rebels said that they had cut off a key supply road to Debaltseve, which is near the rebel-held city of Donetsk. However, Ukraine's military stated that the battle was continuing.

Military spokesman Olexandr Matuzyanyk declared, "There is fighting going on for this road at the moment".
Thousands of Ukrainian troops were believed to be in Debaltseve and the surrounding area. Heavy fighting had been raging there for more than a week, with the rebels gaining some ground.

To this level, the crisis in Ukraine had already claimed more than 5,300 lives and displaced 1.5 million people.

Furthermore, four-way talks between Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France were due to be held in Belarus's capital Minsk to discuss the proposals which was believed to include a demilitarized zone of 50-70km around the current front line.
Until now, Obama still considered the one and only option of arming the Ukrainian government had the talks failed to reach an agreement.

Obama declared, "If, in fact, diplomacy fails, what I've asked my team to do is to look at all options... the offering of lethal defensive weapons".
Meanwhile, EU foreign ministers in Brussels agreed to impose further sanctions against Russian and rebel officials, but had put them on hold for a week to give peace efforts a chance.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was also considering the peace proposals, earlier blamed the West for causing the crisis, saying they had broken pledges not to expand NATO and forced countries to choose between them or Russia.

Thus, he accused Western states of supporting a "coup d'etat in Kiev" - a reference to the ousting of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych last year.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team