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UKRAINE CONFLICT

Crisis turns dangerous

US signals shift in stance on military aid; death toll mounts

AFP, Kiev
Fears grew of an escalation in the mounting bloodshed in east Ukraine yesterday as the United States mulled arming Kiev and pro-Russian rebels ordered a mass mobilisation.
At least 16 civilians and five government troops were killed over the past 24 hours in fierce clashes across the conflict zone, government and proRussian rebel officials said.
The ferocious fighting remains focused around the battleground town of Debaltseve, a strategic railway hub between the rebel strongholds Donetsk and Lugansk where separatists are fighting to encircle Ukrainian forces.
The latest casualties come as fighting has surged in recent weeks after separatists tore up a tenuous ceasefire deal and pushed into government-held territory.
The United Nations yesterday said the civilian death toll has risen by 224 in the past three weeks and that the total of those killed in the conflict since April now stands at over5,358 people.
"Any further escalation will prove catastrophic for the 5.2 million people living in the midst of conflict in eastern
Ukraine," warned UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein.
Concerns over the spiralling conflict come as Washington says it is seriously considering providing arms and more military equipment to Ukraine.
President Barak Obama's administration had previously ruled out sending weapons to Ukraine’s government but the failure of economic sanctions to force Russia to halt alleged military support for the separatists has
prompted a second look at the option, officials told AFP.
"What's being discussed is perhaps we should begin providing defensive weapons, equipments to Ukraine," a senior official said.
Washington so far has provided non-lethal assistance to Ukraine, including flak jackets, medical supplies, radios and night-vision goggles.
US Secretary of State John Kerry is to jet into Kiev today for meetings with President Petro Poroshenko and Prime
Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk but no official announcement on weapons deliveries is expected.
Ukraine and its Western allies accuse Moscow of sending thousands of regular army troops and weapons to support the rebels and spearhead their latest offensive.
Moscow has repeatedly denied the allegations but the rebels, however, appear to be equipped with the heavy weaponry of a regular army.
As rebels continued to push their offensive, their leaders have announced a mass mobilisation aimed at boosting fighter numbers to 100,000.
The voluntary call-up - which has been met with scepticism by some in rebel-held territory - is set to start next Monday, insurgent leader Alexander Zakharchenko said.
Hopes of defusing the conflict look more distant than ever after the latest attempt at truce talks collapsed in acrimony in the Belarussian capital Minsk over the weekend.
The rebels say they are willing to stop fighting only if Kiev agrees to redraw the demarcation line agreed in a September ceasefire deal to include gains they have made since in recent days.