Calls mount for Ukraine truce

Shelling at a hospital in east Ukraine killed four people yesterday 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.

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. Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have demanded a "local temporary truce" around the battleground town of Debaltseve for the next three days.

As fighting raged, US Secretary of State John Kerry will jet into Ukraine today with hopes growing among Kiev's pro-Western leaders that long-standing demands for the US to supply arms could be met. Washington -- fearful of becoming embroiled in a proxy war with Russia -- has so far provided non-lethal assistance to Ukraine.