DONETSK, Ukraine — The shattered remains of a tank bearing a tattered Ukrainian flag sat beside the main highway to Mariupol on Monday afternoon, a remnant of what pro-Russian rebel forces said was a failed attempt by Ukrainian forces to push into rebel-held territory a few days after a shelling attack left 30 dead in that port city.
With a cease-fire in shreds, pro-Russian separatist forces mounting regular new attacks and the Ukrainian military struggling to rebound from losses at the Donetsk airport last week, eastern Ukraine is seeing by far the heaviest fighting since August. Thunderous artillery blasts could be heard from several directions Monday in the largely isolated city of Donetsk.
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The screaming baby had been taken away to another part of the hospital to be calmed down as the mother was wheeled into surgery Monday afternoon, while the grandmother’s body lay beneath a tattered blue blanket just outside in the hallway.
The same day, the first victims of Saturday’s shelling attack on a crowded market area on the eastern outskirts of Mariupol — an attack for which Ukraine blames the rebels, but that the rebels deny — were buried. More funerals are set for Tuesday.
