strategic Ukrainian-controlled transport hub of Debaltseve, some 50-km northeast of the rebel stronghold of Donetsk.
The town of 25,000 people was built around a railroad connecting the two rebel centres of the Russian-speaking southeast.
Defence Minister Poltorak for the first time said that separatist forces had taken “partial” control of Debaltseve, where rebels claim to have surrounded some 8,000 Ukrainian troops.
The rebels on Friday said that they had taken the town of Vuglegirsk — some 10 kilometres from Debaltseve — although Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said fighting there was ongoing.
Both towns are without water, electricity or heating, said regional police chief Vyacheslav Abroskin. The latest violence has alarmed Ukraine´s Western allies, with US Secretary of State John Kerry announcing plans to express his support for the war-torn nation during talks in Kiev on Thursday with President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
Kerry will then meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich, the State Department said.
Western governments and Ukraine accuse Russia of arming and training the rebels, who are deploying extensive weaponry including tanks and multiple rocket launchers. Russia denies claims it has sent regular troops and arms to bolster the rebels, who claim to get all their weaponry from captured Ukrainian supplies.
The 28-nation EU on Thursday extended through September a first wave of targeted sanctions it had slapped on Moscow and Crimean leaders in the wake of Russia’s March seizure of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine.
Russia accuses the West of manipulating the Ukrainian government, which came to power in elections after the ouster in huge street demonstrations last year of a Kremlin-backed leader.
The negotiator for the rebel Donetsk People´s Republic, Denis Pushilin, however, blamed Kiev for causing the collapse of the talks and said insurgent leaders would only sign a deal if Kiev’s forces halt fire first, Russian news wires reported.
The sit-down in the Belarussian capital was aimed at halting fierce battles between government forces and separatists that have claimed scores of lives in recent days.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel held a three-way phone call, urging the warring factions to agree a ceasefire at peace talks, the Kremlin said.
Fighting is focused on the strategic transport hub of Debaltseve, some 50-KM from rebel bastion Donetsk.
Ukraine’s defence minister on Saturday said the rebels have taken “partial” control of the town, but Kiev denies separatist claims that they have surrounded some 8,000 Ukrainian troops.