RIGHT SPEAK: Ukraine seeing some of the Heaviest Fighting in Months, Calls Ceasefire into Doubt

Some of the heaviest fighting in months erupted in and around the rebel stronghold of Donetsk early Sunday, hours after an unmarked column of weaponry and armed vehicles arrived in the eastern Ukrainian city.

Artillery fire, machine-gun rounds and mortar blasts shook Donetsk and its suburbs for hours late Saturday and early Sunday. Barrages of artillery fire were shot from the densely populated, rebel-held city center toward the disputed Donetsk airport and Ukrainian-held suburbs in the north. Ukrainian government forces also appeared to be firing on rebel-held territory in and around Donetsk.

Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed rebels have been exchanging artillery volleys nearly every day since agreeing on a cease-fire in September that began fraying hours after it was signed. Now worries are mounting over a possible return to full-blown warfare, a week after Russia-backed rebels held elections that Ukraine and the West denounced as illegal.

The conflict could also simmer for months with daily artillery fire punctuated by periodic outbursts but no major territorial gains. The Ukrainian government, having failed in its quest to receive Western military aid, is hesitant to reopen an offensive in a war that it can’t win if Russia continues to back the rebels. The rebels have little incentive to stop fighting, given their war-focused leadership and the lack of a bargain with Kiev on territory or political independence.

For the Kremlin, pressuring the rebels to give up the fight would be seen as a concession, something Moscow seems unlikely to do at present, given the U.S. and Europe have made clear there isn’t likely to be relief from sanctions soon.

In the middle of the night Sunday, locals used social media to compare notes on the location and type of explosions in real time.

“My plans for the night are to live,” said read the headline on the image one user of the Russian social network VKontakte posted in a Donetsk online forum around 3 a.m. on Sunday.