Negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and Europe have begun peace talks aimed at establishing a ceasefire as fighting spreads along the frontline.
Former Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma, the OSCE's Heidi Tagliavini, and separatist representatives Denis Pushilin and Vladislav Deinego, as well as Russian ambassador to Kiev Mikhail Zurabov, are participating in the talks in Minsk.
The talks started as fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists continued to rage in the east, claiming civilian and military lives.
The talks, under the auspices of the OSCE, will be the first since September when a ceasefire was agreed.
Much-violated from the start, that truce collapsed completely as the rebels launched a new advance last week.
Heavy shelling continued in Ukraine's eastern regions as the separatists sought to tighten a circle around government forces clinging on to control of the strategic rail and road junction of Debaltseve.
At least 12 civilians were killed today by separatist artillery shelling of the town, which lies to the northeast of the big city of Donetsk.
Defence Minister Stepan Poltorak said 15 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and 30 wounded in clashes across the east.
"The toughest situation is in the Vuhlehirsk area where the terrorists are trying to seize the town and occupy positions to move forward and encircle Debaltseve," a military spokesman said.
Debaltseve is located on the main highway linking Donetsk and the other big rebel-controlled city of Luhansk and is also a vital rail link for goods traffic from Russia which Kiev accuses of arming the rebels.
The separatists were also continuing to threaten Mariupol, a town of half a million in the south-east of the country on the coast of Sea of Azov.
The renewed violence followed intense fighting yesterday in which more than 20 civilians were killed in separate shelling attacks in Donetsk, Debaltseve and other areas.
More than 5,000 people have been killed in the Ukraine conflict which erupted last April following Russia's annexation of Crimea in response to the ousting of a Moscow-backed president in Kiev by street protests.
The West and Kiev's pro-Western government say Russian regular forces are fighting on behalf of the separatists and providing them with military equipment through the long joint border, parts of which are beyond Ukrainian control. Moscow denies this.
US and Western sanctions against Russia have led to the biggest crisis in Russia-West relations since the end of the Cold War more than 20 years ago
