Truce talks between Ukraine’s government and rebels appeared to collapse Friday after 24 people, mostly civilians, were reported killed in heavy weapons fire in eastern Ukraine, prompting new European criticism of Russia.

Truce talks between Ukraine's government and rebels appeared to collapse Friday after 24 people, mostly civilians, were reported killed in heavy weapons fire in eastern Ukraine, prompting new European criticism of Russia.

Plans for the talks in the Belarussian capital Minsk were announced on Thursday, raising hopes of dialogue amid the collapse of a September truce in a war that has killed at least 5,100 people, according to the United Nations.

While the leaders bickered over the Minsk talks, fighting in Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland intensified, with rebels pushing deeper into government-held territory.

Local officials and the Kiev military said 19 civilians and five Ukrainian soldiers died in the latest wave of clashes across the insurgent Lugansk and Donetsk regions since Thursday afternoon.

Some of the worst violence was centered around Debaltseve -- a key government-held town of 25,000 people that was built around a railroad connecting the two rebel centers of the Russian-speaking southeast.

Donetsk rebel commander Alexander Zakharchenko told Russian state television that Ukrainian troops in the town were "surrounded" and unable to receive supplies or send their wounded for treatment in regional hospitals.

"Surrender and you will live," said the rebel. "I promise you that you will all return home."