File photo of President Petro Poroshenko. (Reuters)
Donetsk, Ukraine:
Fighting raged in Ukraine on Friday with the clock ticking down to a ceasefire as the US said Russia was still deploying heavy arms and Kiev warned that the shelling of civilians had intensified since the truce agreement.
Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko said the continuing bombardment of civilians in eastern Ukraine by pro-Russian separatist rebels was already undermining the peace plan reached in Minsk on Thursday.
At least 27 civilians and soldiers were reported killed in the latest upsurge in fighting.
"Unfortunately after the Minsk agreement, Russia's offensive has significantly increased. We still think that the agreement is in great danger," Poroshenko said during a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
"After what we concluded in Minsk, these are not only attacks against civilians but also against the Minsk agreement," he added, referring to the shelling of the town of Artemivsk that killed three people including a seven-year-old child.
The ceasefire, due to take effect from midnight Sunday (2200 GMT Saturday) will be the first test of the commitment by Kiev and pro-Russian separatists to the freshly-inked peace plan.
But with separatists fighting to conquer more territory ahead of the truce and Kiev forces digging in, there were fears over whether anyone would observe the truce, considered vital to the success of the peace roadmap.
Fresh fighting
The United States said it believed Russia was continuing to deploy heavy weapons ahead of the ceasefire.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the United States had received reports of heavy weapons being moved into eastern Ukraine from Russia over the past few days, and more apparently on the way.
"This is clearly not in the spirit of this week's agreement," Psaki told reporters.
She said the Russian military had deployed large amounts of artillery and multiple rocket launcher systems and was using it to shell Ukrainian positions.
"We are confident that these are Russian military, not separatist systems," she said, adding that Russian troops along the border were preparing a large shipment of supplies to pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Friday's fresh fighting came after rebels and Kiev agreed to the wide-ranging plan on Thursday following marathon talks in the Belarussian between the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned Russia that the EU, which has already slapped Moscow with sanctions over the crisis, is not ruling out further measures if the truce fail.
"If there are difficulties we wouldn't rule out other sanctions," she said in Brussels on Thursday, after the 17-hour Minsk talks with French President Francois Hollande, Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Poroshenko.
Ukraine's deputy defence minister Petro Mekhed, meanwhile, accused the rebels of wanting to "raise their flag" over railway hub Debaltseve, scene of the bitterest recent fighting, and strategic port Mariupol ahead of the ceasefire.
"Ukraine is expecting an escalation and taking all necessary measures to be able to respond," Mekhed told journalists.
The fragile agreement was seen as the best hope of ending the conflict, which has killed at least 5,480 people and ratcheted East-West tensions to highs not seen since the Cold War, but scepticism remains high after the collapse of a similar previous peace plan.
Kiev and the West accuse Russia of stoking the war in ex-Soviet Ukraine by pouring arms and troops to help the pro-Russian rebels fighting Kiev government troops in Ukraine's industrial east. Moscow denies the charges.
Roadmap to peace
Ukraine's military said that fighting remained fiercest around Debaltseve, with rebels firing missiles at the beleaguered railway hub mid-way between the main separatist bastions of Donetsk and Lugansk.
An AFP journalist in the rebel capital of Donetsk said that sporadic missile salvos and dozens of artillery bombardments could be heard around the city early Friday morning.
Kiev has accused Russia of deploying another 50 tanks across the border during the talks in Minsk.
Rebel leaders -- seen by the West as Kremlin puppets -- have said that the new deal raises hopes of peace but warned there would be no more talking if it fails.
The new Minsk agreement is broadly similar to an earlier failed deal in September, except that the new heavy weapons-free zone will be 50 to 140 kilometres (31-87 miles) wide, depending on the range of the weapon, double the width of the buffer zone agreed in September.
Kiev will also begin retaking control over the approximately 400-kilometre (250 mile) stretch of Russia's border with rebel-held Ukraine, but only after local elections are held.
The border is entirely under Russian and pro-Russian rebel control and is used, according to Kiev, as a conduit for separatist supplies. The Kremlin denies this but has opposed Ukraine being allowed to regain control of the frontier.
Separatist-held territories will be granted a degree of autonomy to be established through talks, and the right to decide which language they use.
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