Ukraine says peace hopes 'destroyed' as rebels assault town
Ukraine on Tuesday accused rebels and Russia of destroying a fragile three-day-old ceasefire after insurgents armed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades stormed a flashpoint town and engaged thousands of troops there in intense combat. "The hopes of the world for peace are being destroyed," the deputy head of Ukraine's presidential administration, Valeriy Chaly, told a news conference in Kiev. "Russia and the DNR (the rebels' self-styled breakaway Donetsk republic) are not abiding by the agreement" underpinning the truce, he said, warning that the situation was careening towards "further escalation". Fierce fighting was raging in the streets of Debaltseve, a strategic railway hub between the main rebel-held cities of Donetsk and Lugansk, according to both Kiev officials and pro-Russian rebels.