Russian-backed rebels celebrated seizing control of Debaltseve on Friday, two days after Ukrainian f

Описание: (20 Feb 2015) Russian-backed rebels celebrated seizing control of Debaltseve on Friday, two days after Ukrainian forces began withdrawing from the key railway hub.
The mood was celebratory, with fighters laughing, hugging each other, and posing for photographs.
A group of sappers detonated anti-vehicle mines left by retreating Ukrainian forces as they approached the entrance to the city.
Seven months of shelling with intensive fighting in the past week has left Debaltseve in ruins and on Friday a spokesman for the Ukrainian military said the offensive was continuing.
He said separatist rebels fired on Ukrainian positions nearly 50 times in the past 24 hours and that Russia is sending more tanks into Ukraine despite a cease-fire that was supposed to take effect five days ago.
Concerns have risen that the rebels are still gunning to take Mariupol, a government-held city on the Sea of Azov between mainland Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed last March.
Taking the city could allow the rebels to create a land bridge between Russia and Crimea, which now have no direct links.
The war in eastern Ukraine has killed more than 5,600 people and forced over a million to flee their homes since fighting began in April, a month after Russia annexed Crimea.
Russia denies arming the rebels or supplying fighters, but Western nations and NATO point to satellite pictures of Russian military equipment in eastern Ukraine.

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