Humanitarian corridor for Debaltsevo civilians & potential blowback from arming Ukraine.

Meet the next flashpoint for the fighting in Ukraine.

Debaltsevo.

Many readers have been commenting on it, and I've watched as they've put up links and talked about the situation but I wasn't sure if this was actually shaping up as a real fight or just a sideshow to the fighting at the airport.

Real fight it is.  Check this out via RT.

A ceasefire starting from 9 am local time (0600 GMT) on February 6 has been suggested by the Donetsk militia, in order to provide a corridor so that civilians in Debaltsevo can leave the conflict area. Kiev has reportedly agreed to hold fire.
The proposal for the local ceasefire was initiated by the militia, the Donetsk defense ministry representative Eduard Basurin announced on Thursday. The corridor should give people caught in the fighting in and around the town of Debaltsevo the chance to flee the area, Basurin said.
Kiev's military officials have confirmed their agreement to the ceasefire, according to Basurin.
Debaltsevo residents will have a choice of which safer area to head to, the DNR representative at the Minsk talks, Denis Pushilin, told Russia’s Rossiya 24 news channel. He said that people can choose between areas controlled either by Kiev or the militia, to be evacuated to the towns of Artyomovsk or Donetsk respectively.
The announcement of plans for the localized ceasefire came during a series of international meetings aimed at working on devising a solution for the increasing fighting in eastern Ukraine.
The US Secretary of State John Kerry visited the Ukrainian capital on Thursday following Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko’s pleas for the US to supply arms to Kiev.

Then we have this from the NATO Chief on the possibility of arming Ukraine via CBS News...

BRUSSELS -- The top NATO commander warned Thursday that any move to provide Ukraine with lethal defensive weapons must take into account any possible angry reaction from Russia.
U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove said that any action the U.S. or other Western nations take "could trigger a more strident reaction from Russia."

This thing in Ukraine is turning into a complete clusterfuck.

I thought that winter time would be the opportunity to sort this mess out and reach some type of peace.  That time is rapidly passing.  We could see warfare last another two or three years.