While the seriously deteriorating situation and growing numbers of casualties continue, efforts to put an end to the months-long pro-Russian separatist rebellion in eastern Ukraine have led to no improvement of the situations so far. The Trilateral Contact Group consultations organized by the Vienna-based Organization of Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) held in Minsk failed once again. The talks could not produce a breakthrough over issues relating to the settlement of the crisis in Ukraine, eroding hopes for permanent peace in the country. The pro-Russian separatist envoys participated in the talks on the Ukrainian war and blocked negotiations calling for a revision of the previous cease-fire agreement, the OSCE said on Sunday. "They were not even prepared to discuss implementation of a cease-fire and withdrawal of heavy weapons," said the Serbian Foreign Ministry, which currently chairs the OSCE.The Trilateral Contact Group composed of representatives from Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE, reached an agreement during the peace talks in Minsk, Belarus on Sept. 5, 2014. The Minsk Accords include granting decentralized power to the local self-government in certain districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and allowing the eastern cities to strengthen relations with Russia. Pro-Russian separatist leaders and the Ukrainian government agreed to a stipulated withdrawal of heavy weapons and creation of a 30-kilometer buffer zone to put an end to bloodshed in the Sept. 20 Minsk Memorandum. However, all-out fighting resumed despite the cease-fire agreement. Since then, heavy shelling around rebel-held areas in the Donbass region and southern city of Mariupol were reported to continue unabatedly.After the collapse of cease-fire talks, fierce fighting raged Sunday between government forces and pro-Russian rebels with at least 19 soldiers and civilians were reportedly killed in clashes.Following the pro-Russian rebels' self-proclamation of the Donetsk People's Republic in April, instability has reigned in eastern Ukraine. After declaring independence, the clashes have increased throughout the region where government forces have stepped up operations. The conflict has come at the cost of an increasingly high death toll. The suffering of civilians from the months-long crisis has led to worsening humanitarian conditions as the number of killed and wounded has reached to more than 15,000 as of Dec. 16, 2014, according to U.N. figures. The number of affected people is reportedly 5.2 million including around two million children.