Heavy fighting near Debaltsevo has entered a third day, with media reports echoing the confusion around what appears to be the most intense battle of the year in Ukraine.

According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, five Ukrainian soldiers were killed on Sunday and one yesterday, with 33 injured over both days.

However there are reports that the number of casualties may be significantly higher.

As we reported, Ukraine’s TSN news were told by medics at a hospital in Kharkiv that at least 21 soldiers had been brought in for treatment by 9 am local time yesterday.

Today, Censor.NET reports, citing sources in one of the battalions engaged in the fighting, that seven soldiers were killed in the last two days, while another remains missing. This corresponds with reports yesterday from the Povernis’ Zhivim (Come Back Alive) volunteer group.

The report of the missing soldier was also confirmed by a military press officer to Ukrainska Pravda last night.

That source claimed that Ukrainian troops had seized positions abandoned by Russia-backed fighters after the Ukrainians mounted a counterattack.

The advance, the press officer said, was a matter of several hundred metres.

According to the source, documents found at the positions indicated the presence of both Ukrainian and Russian nationals.

In the early hours of this morning TSN relayed reports of a renewed attack by Russia-backed forces following heavy artillery bombardment. One source, the volunteer-led Ukrainian Military Portal, reported that contact with one group of soldiers at the front had been lost following the attack.

Later today there were unconfirmed reports that the group had been surrounded but was holding position: