Forced to regroup after failing to take the capital, Russia switched its focus to the vital eastern industrial heartland, where fighting is now picking up.
Freezing and nerve-shattered residents of an eastern Ukraine town battered by an upsurge in fighting between troops and Russia-backed rebels flocked to a humanitarian aid center Wednesday to receive food and warm up.
The flimsy, razor wire-topped fences popping up along bare expanses of Ukraine's eastern frontier are the first line of defense against a much-feared Russian invasion.