Shelling at a hospital in east Ukraine has killed four people, 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.
An AFP 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 in Europe have demanded a "local temporary truce" around the battleground town of Debaltseve for the next three days.
Ukraine's military said that rebels had launched a fierce infantry attack towards the town on Tuesday night 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.
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.
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.
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