section_path: History/War in the Donbas (2014–2021)/Minsk II agreement and battle of Debaltseve
section_name: Minsk II agreement and battle of Debaltseve
paragraph_text: Minsk II agreement and battle of Debaltseve
  
  In January 2015, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Mariupol represented the three battle fronts. Poroshenko described a dangerous escalation on 21 January amid reports of more than 2,000 additional Russian troops, 200 tanks and armed personnel carriers crossing the border. He abbreviated his visit to the World Economic Forum because of his concerns.
  
  A new package of measures to end the conflict, known as Minsk II, was agreed on 12 February 2015, with a ceasefire due to begin on 15 February.
  
  Despite the ceasefire, Russian-backed forces launched an offensive on Debaltseve, a strategic town and salient held by Ukrainian forces. By 18 February 2015, the 8,000 Ukrainian troops had been almost surrounded and were forced to retreat from Debaltseve under relentless fire, suffering heavy casualties. Russian-backed rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko had said his forces would not observe the ceasefire in Debaltseve, claiming it rightfully belonged to them. Ukraine, the EU and the US accused Russia and its proxies of breaking the ceasefire, and said that the Russian military itself took part in the offensive.
  
  In September 2015 the United Nations Human Rights Office estimated that 8,000 casualties had resulted from the conflict in eastern Ukraine.