Ukraine Conflict: Battles Rage Ahead Of Minsk Talks.

Fighting has surged in eastern Ukraine as government forces and pro-Russian rebels try to make gains ahead of possible peace talks

on Wednesday.
Separatist forces have carried out rocket attacks on a key military headquarters and a residential area at Kramatorsk, officials say.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's volunteer Azov battalion has launched an offensive against separatists around Mariupol.
More than 5,400 people have died since the conflict began last April.
The leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany hope to meet in the Belarusian capital Minsk on Wednesday to hammer out a peace deal after months of fighting.
Russia denies Western and Ukrainian accusations of sending troops and supplying the rebels and has warned the West that sending arms to Ukraine would worsen the crisis.
US President Barack Obama said on Monday that he had not ruled out supplying "lethal defensive weapons" to Ukraine if diplomacy failed.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told parliament on Tuesday that the government's military headquarters at Kramatorsk airfield had been shelled by rebels on Tuesday.
Three people were killed and 15 wounded when a residential area was also hit, local authorities said.
The city, some distance west of the conflict zone, was the scene of major fighting until July, when pro-Russian separatists retreated.
The separatists denied firing the rockets, Reuters reports. 
Meanwhile Andriy Biletsky, commander of the Azov battalion based in Mariupol, confirmed to the BBC that the volunteer fighters were advancing and fighting pro-Russian rebels outside the southern port city.
"We have taken the villages of Shyrokine, Pavlovo, Kominternovo. We are currently moving towards Novoazovsk."
Rebels launched an offensive on Mariupol last month, leaving dozens dead in rocket attacks.
The Ukrainian government said that separatists appeared to be massing forces for attacks on strategic towns, including Mariupol, on Saturday, according to Reuters news agency.
The port city lies in a key coastal position between rebel-controlled areas and the Crimean peninsula.
Russia's Ria news agency reported on Tuesday that more than 600 Russian troops had started exercises in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia last year.
Source:BBC