LATEST. Reports said government forces and rebels are engaged in fierce fighting on the outskirts of the flashpoint town of Debaltseve and near its railway station.
The military said Ukrainian troops were holding their positions against the rebels' attack.
The new Bellingcat report is out. It's on the origin of artillery attacks on Ukrainian military positions in the east of the country in summer 2014.
"The pressure of sustained artillery attacks through early August led Ukrainian armed forces to lose control of hundreds of kilometers of border territory. Google Earth satellite images of eastern Ukraine from July, August, and September 2014 have enabled the Bellingcat investigation team to find evidence of these artillery attacks, determine their origin, and compare them with local sources.
"After reviewing and analyzing these satellite images as well as videos from social media, local media reports, and the shifting maps of the ongoing conflict, the Bellingcat investigation team has determined that there is compelling evidence that artillery attacks on Ukrainian territory and against Ukrainian armed forces originated from the territory of Russia."
Comprehensive piece of reporting on the tragedy of what's happening in Debaltseve from the Kyiv Post.
This just in:
Ukraine's Defense Ministry said on February 17 that some government troops were taken prisoner by separatists in Debaltseve.
But the ministry denied reports by Russian media and separatists that a large number of soldiers were captured.
The ministry said those reports were "fake" and were aimed at creating panic among government forces that remain in Debaltseve.