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Shelling at a hospital in eastern Ukraine killed four people on Wednesday ahead of a visit to Kiev by US Secretary of State John Kerry that will see possible arms supplies high on the agenda.
The latest deaths came as international pressure grew for an immediate halt to surging violence which has seen hundreds of civilians killed in recent weeks as pro-Russian rebels pushed into government-held territory.

A journalist saw a body lying next to the crater from a mortar blast that shattered the windows at the hospital in a western suburb of the rebel stronghold Donetsk.
Two more dead civilians were sprawled outside a nearby residential building and a local resident said another elderly man was killed in his home.
“The firing hit in front of and behind the hospital. The children’s playground and a school were hit too,” resident Denis Gladkov said.
Eight other civilians were killed in clashes around the region over the past 24 hours, rebel and government officials said.
As the death toll ticked up EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini called for an immediate ceasefire to allow civilians to escape the fighting.
“The spiral of ever increasing violence in eastern Ukraine needs to stop,” Mogherini said.
Observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) in Europe have demanded a “local temporary truce” around the battleground town of Debaltseve for the next three days.
Debaltseve, a strategic railway hub between rebel centres Donetsk and Lugansk, has been the focus of the fiercest fighting for a week as rebels battle to encircle Ukrainian forces.
Officials say thousands of civilians have fled the beleaguered town over recent days and those remaining behind are trapped in basements without water or electricity.
Ukraine’s military said that rebels had launched a fierce infantry attack towards the town overnight but had been beaten back after a five-hour battle.
Four Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 25 wounded in fighting across the region over the past 24 hours, the army said.
Kerry coming, with arms?
As fighting raged, US Secretary of State John Kerry will jet into Ukraine on Thursday with hopes growing among Kiev’s pro-Western leaders that long-standing demands for the US to supply arms could be met.
President Barack 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.
Washington – fearful of becoming embroiled in a proxy war with Russia – has so far provided non-lethal assistance to Ukraine, including flak jackets, medical supplies, radios and night-vision goggles.
Ukraine though is thought to be seeking weapons, including so-called “fire-and-forget” anti-tank missiles, to counter the heavy armour it says Moscow has poured over the border.
“What we need is exactly modern warfare, which we’ve been lacking all this time,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin told Western journalists in Kiev.
While Kerry is not expected to pledge any arms during his trip, Klimkin said he hoped for “deliverables” from the visit and another meeting between President Petro Poroshenko and US Vice President Joe Biden in Munich.
Poroshenko said on Tuesday he had “no doubt” that the US and other Nato allies would eventually agree to start arming Ukraine.
Fears are mounting of a sharp escalation in the violence after truce talks collapsed and rebels announced an ambitious mobilisation to start next week aimed at bolstering their forces to 100,000 fighters.
Fighting since April has now claimed over 5,358 lives, including some 220 in just the past three weeks, according to the United Nations.
Ukraine and its Western allies accuse Moscow of sending thousands of regular army troops and weapons to support the rebels.
Moscow has repeatedly denied the allegations but the rebels appear to be equipped with the heavy and advanced weaponry of a regular army.


Hospital shelled in eastern Urkaine as calls mount for truce ahead of Kerry visit

Members of the armed forces of the separatist self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic gather outside the  hospital hit by shelling in Donetsk. Photo: Reuters

The bodies of the victims of a shelling attack are seen near a hospital in Donetsk. Photo: Reuters

Ukraine rebels to mobilise 100,000 troops as fighting rages around Donetsk

Ukrainian soldiers in an armoured vehicle pass the city of Artemivsk en route to the Debaltseve, about 45km away. Photo: AFP

A man stands next to his car after it was destroyed by shelling in rebel-held Donetsk. Photo: AFP

A man inspects damage to his flat after it was destroyed by shelling in Donetsk. Photo: AFP

Kiev hopes for stalled truce talks despite separatist vow to push offensive

a special unit of the Ukrainian armed forces lines up during a farewell ceremony in Kharkiv. Photo: Reuters

From left, Alexander Zakharchenko, Igor Plotnitsky, Russian Ambassador Mikhail Zurabov, Leonid Kuchma, and OSCE envoy Heidi Tagliavini in Minsk, Belarus, early on Saturday. Photo: AP

Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko inspects an armoured vehicle in Kiev on Friday. Photo: Reuters

A pro-Russian separatist patrols at a factory near the eastern Ukrainian city of Debaltseve on Thursday. Photo: AFP 

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Shelling at a hospital in eastern Ukraine killed four people on Wednesday ahead of a visit to Kiev by US Secretary of State John Kerry that will see possible arms supplies high on the agenda.
