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The BBC's Ian Pannell flees artillery fire at the ruins of Donetsk airport
Fierce fighting is reported inside the key Ukrainian town of Debaltseve despite a ceasefire deal agreed last week.
Rebels say they have taken most of Debaltseve, a transport hub, but the government says it is still in control.
International observers tasked with monitoring the ceasefire have been unable to enter the town.
Earlier, both sides failed to begin withdrawing heavy weapons, despite a Monday deadline agreed in the truce.
The two sides were given until two days after the latest ceasefire came into effect to start the pullout.
A spokesman for the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic told Russian news agency Interfax that the police station in Debaltseve had been taken as well as the railway station.
He said most of the city was under the control of the separatists and that a mopping-up operation was continuing.
The rebels also said that dozens of Ukrainian troops in Debaltseve had surrendered and others had been killed.
A Ukrainian military spokesman quoted by Reuters news agency confirmed that rebels were attacking the railway station but said the town was still in government hands.
Although Debaltseve has suffered weeks of artillery exchanges, correspondents say this is the first fierce fighting inside the town.
The ceasefire, which came into effect on Sunday, has been broadly observed but separatists insist the agreement does not apply in Debaltseve because they have the town almost surrounded.
Rebels have offered Ukrainian troops under siege there a safe corridor to leave.
Senior rebel leader Denis Pushilin described Debaltseve as "internal territory" and said fighting for it was "a moral thing".
"We do not have the right [to stop fighting]," he told Reuters.
Another rebel leader, Andrei Purgin, said separatists planned to discuss the possible withdrawal of weapons later on Tuesday with representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.
Ukraine's military said on Tuesday that five soldiers had been killed and 14 wounded in the past 24 hours. A spokesman told AFP news agency that most of the deaths happened near Debaltseve.
Meanwhile, the leaders of Germany, Ukraine and Russia discussed the crisis in an overnight phone call.
Germany said they had agreed "concrete measures" for observers to have greater access, but gave no details.
Observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), who are charged with monitoring the ceasefire, have been trying to reach Debaltseve after being denied access by pro-Russian rebels on Sunday.
"The German chancellor and Ukrainian president called on the Russian president to exercise his influence on the separatists to enforce the ceasefire," German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said.
"Further, the withdrawal of heavy weapons should be started on Tuesday, as agreed in Minsk."
Under the ceasefire agreed in the Belarus capital Minsk last week, the withdrawal of heavy weapons from front line areas was due to start no later than the second day after the truce came into effect and be completed within two weeks.
The withdrawal would create buffer zones 50-140km (30-85 miles) wide.
But both sides says they will not withdraw heavy weapons until they see movement from the other side.
Continue reading the main story-
12,972 wounded across eastern Ukraine
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5.2 million people estimated to be living in conflict areas
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978,482 internally displaced people within Ukraine, including 119,832 children
AP
US state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the US was "gravely concerned by the deteriorating situation in and around Debaltseve" and called on "Russia and the separatists it backs to halt all attacks immediately".
Meanwhile, further EU sanctions against Russia have come into effect.
The new sanctions list targets 19 officials - most of them in the pro-Russian separatist strongholds of Donetsk and Luhansk, but also two Russian deputy defence ministers and a Russian celebrity singer and MP, Iosif Kobzon.
Officials say more than 5,400 people have been killed since the conflict erupted in eastern Ukraine in April, but the UN believes the actual death toll to be much higher.
Minsk agreement: Key points
- Ceasefire to begin at 00:01 local time on 15 February (22:01 GMT 14 February)
- Heavy weapons to be withdrawn, beginning on 16 February and completed in two weeks - beyond a buffer zone behind the current front line for Ukrainian forces and behind the September front line for separatist forces
- All prisoners to be released; amnesty for those involved in fighting
- Withdrawal of all foreign troops and weapons from Ukrainian territory. Disarmament of all illegal groups
- Ukraine to allow resumption of normal life in rebel areas, by lifting restrictions
- Constitutional reform to enable decentralisation for rebel regions by the end of 2015
- Ukraine to control border with Russia if conditions met by the end of 2015
Ukraine 'pits Russia against West'
Ukraine conflict in maps
Do you live in eastern Ukraine or have friends and family in the region? What do you think about the recent developments? You can email your experiences to haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk
Please include a contact number if you wish to be contacted by a BBC journalist.
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