ARTEMIVSK, Ukraine — A new wave of fighting has exploded in eastern Ukraine. Peace talks have fallen apart, and the Russian-backed rebels, eager to expand their territory, are on the warpath. After launching an offensive two weeks ago, they have captured some 200 square miles of new land, including the fiercely contested and symbolically important airport in Donetsk, the largest city under their control.

The focus of fighting has now shifted to the strategic transport hub of Debaltseve, 45 miles northeast. There, some 8,000 government troops are facing off against Russian-supported rebel militias who are closing in on them, creating a ring of fire that rains hell down in the besieged town.

See also: Grim scenes as civilians flee eastern Ukraine

As a result, Deblatseve has been decimated, and countless civilians and soldiers have died. Kiev says about three to five soldiers are killed and around a dozen wounded there every day. But medics and troops Mashable spoke to in Artemivsk, where they are medevaced, say it’s more like “three times that.”

A Ukrainian soldier wounded in fighting in the town of Debaltseve is transported to a hospital in Artemivsk for treatment on Monday, Feb. 2, 2015.

The fighting and rebel advance doesn't look like it will end soon. On Monday, Alexander Zakharchenko, the rebel leader in Donetsk, called for “full-scale mobilization,” vowing to expand the militia to 100,000 soldiers. It seems unlikely Zakharchenko could find that many able-bodied military-age men in his fledgling quasi state. It's more likely new fighters will come in the form of volunteers from Russia.

Either way, it suggests the rebels are far from done with their push. Because of its proximity to Deblatseve, residents in Artemivsk are worried the rebels will soon advance to the once quiet provincial town that is known for its sparkling wine and salt mines. The town of 75,000 sits 25 miles from the front line.

'We will go when the first shell strikes'

People here have seen what war will bring — danger, death and suffering. They have seen evacuated residents of Debaltseve and nearby Gorlovka made homeless, and Ukrainian soldiers severely wounded in fighting have been in their hospitals.

So they are making preparations to either fight or flee, or to hunker down and endure.

Civilians flee the besieged eastern Ukrainian town of Deblatseve in the back of a delivery truck on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2015.

A soldier in the Artemivsk Battalion who goes by the name Artem said he would battle the rebels no matter the circumstances. "For my motherland and country, I would die."

Meanwhile, a couple in a two-story residential building on central Lenin Street packed duffle bags and placed them near the front door of their homes for a quick getaway if need be.

“We will go when the first shell strikes,” said Tatyana, who asked that her last name not be used because she said she didn’t want to cause family members elsewhere to panic.

Around the corner at 53 Artema Street, residents made preparations to hunker down inside the bomb shelter beneath their World War II-era apartment building. On Sunday, two middle-aged men cleaned the cobwebs from the ceilings and swept the floors before getting to work on the two defunct toilets.

The word "bomb shelter" adorns a rusty door beneath a residential building in Artemivsk, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2015.

Residents in the eastern Ukrainian city of Artemivsk explore the bomb shelter beneath an apartment building on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2015.

"Can you imagine shitting in here?" one of the men said. The bunker is poorly ventilated. Debris fills the toilets, which haven't been used since they were installed, so their piping needs to be cleared. "The smell would be terrible with 100 people stuck in here like sardines."

At Artemivsk's School No. 11, Director Larisa Konstantinova convened a meeting of teachers and staff last Saturday morning to discuss emergency procedures should missiles strike the city. She told of plans to hold drills in which more than 2,300 students will practice ducking beneath desks and doorways before dashing to the school's basement.

A Ukrainian soldier in the Artemivsk Battalion hangs out the door of his unit's vehicle near Debaltseve, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2015.

What residents are seeing and hearing

Artillery fire from positions around Artemivsk has increased in recent weeks, as Ukrainian forces pound rebel-held areas with massive long-range missies systems. But with rebel positions out of range, no shells have hit here.

The rockets emit sounds that Artemivsk residents aren't yet used to hearing. Each time a new volley is fired, reverberating through the town, people stop in their tracks to assess whether it is outgoing or incoming fire. But more and more people here — even children –- are getting better at discerning between the different rocket systems.

More than merely a dot on the regional map, Artemivsk is of strategic and economic importance due to its highways and railway lines, as well as its salt mines.

Government soldiers dine inside their cafeteria in Artemivsk, eastern Ukraine on Monday, Feb. 2, 2015.

But it is deep inside one of them that the real prize exists. Stashed hundreds of meters below ground is a weapons arsenal of more than 3 million arms, one of the largest in Europe. Created during the Soviet Union, much of what exists there (and the Ukrainian military is tight-lipped about what exactly is kept inside) are old Kalashnikov rifles and machine guns.

"But there are heavier weapons, too," a senior security official told Mashable this week. A military spokesperson denied access to the site for "intelligence reasons" but confirmed the official's remarks.

If the rebels seized control of the cache, “it would change the game,” the official said. They have attacked it once before, but failed to take control over it.

On Saturday, Mashable observed scores of weapons crates presumed to have been removed from the cache being loaded on trucks near its entrance to be transported. The security official could not say where they were being taken, but said it would be impossible to relocate an entire arsenal of this size. So measures have been taken to ensure they won’t fall into enemy hands.

“We have explosives ready to block [access to the cache] if we must,” the security official said.

Asked whether a controlled explosion was recently carried out to close an alternative entrance to arsenal, the official said, "I cannot say yes or no to that question."