海角大神

Ukraine聽said on Thursday that pro-Russian聽rebels had reinforced their positions with聽tanks聽and missile systems in聽east Ukraine聽while marathon four-nation talks were taking place the previous night.

A deal reached at talks involving聽Ukraine,聽Russia,聽Germany聽and聽France聽envisages a ceasefire between Ukrainian forces and聽Russian-backed separatists starting on Sunday, but all sides said there was a long way to go towards real peace.

"The intensity of fighting is evidenced by a sharp increase in the number of people trying to leave front-line towns," Ukrainian military spokesman聽Andriy Lysenko聽said in a daily briefing a few hours after the agreement was reached in聽Belarus.

As the talks in聽Minsk聽dragged on through Wednesday night, around 50聽tanks, 40 missile systems and 40 armored vehicles entered聽east Ukraine's breakaway Luhansk region from聽Russia聽via the Izvaryne border crossing, Lysenko said.

Russia聽denies supplying the rebels with arms and troops, despite what聽Ukraine聽and NATO say is overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Separatists have strengthened their positions especially in Debaltseve, a strategic transport hub that has been the focus of heavy fighting in recent weeks, Lysenko said, stressing that government forces had not given up any ground.

But senior rebel commander聽Eduard Basurin聽said separatist forces had completely encircled Ukrainian troops in the town and their only option was to surrender. He said his side would honor the聽Minsk聽agreements.

"We are ready to organize the exit of Ukrainian forces from the Debaltseve encirclement on respectable conditions. They should put down their weapons and leave," Basurin told a news conference in Donetsk, broadcast live by Rossiya24 TV.

"Units of the聽army聽of Donetsk People's Republic are successfully holding their positions ... and are carrying out counter-attack operations to prevent the enemy from breaking from the encirclement."

He accused Ukrainian forces of attacking rebel positions in several places on Thursday and said there had been four cases of shelling of Donetsk in which two civilians were killed. The report could not be independently verified.

A Reuters witness in separatist-held Donetsk, south-west of Debaltseve, said artillery blasts could be heard sporadically throughout the day, although it was not clear in what direction the shells were being fired or by whom.

(Reporting by Alessandra Prentice in聽Kiev聽and Maxim Shemetov in Donetsk; Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)