Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko blamed pro-Russian rebels for firing a missile into a bus southwest of Donetsk, killing at least eleven people and wounding many more.  A rebel spokesman immediately denied responsibility.

Pro-government officials say the bus was traveling near a military checkpoint when a missile fired from a multiple-rocket launcher struck it.  One report said the bus had been carrying civilians from the coastal town of Mariupol.  This is the latest setback to efforts to implement last September’s cease-fire between Kiev and pro-Russian separatists.

French, German, Russian, and Ukrainian have canceled a meeting that was scheduled for Thursday in Astana, Kazakhstan as the fighting around Donetsk worsened in recent weeks.  Foreign ministers now say that “further work needs to be done” before a summit could be held, and cited the failure to fully implement the ceasefire as well as the need to agree on how to deliver aid and free prisoners.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says all 12 points of the September truce have to be fully implemented before the West lifts sanctions on Russia for supporting the rebels.  Moscow denies all allegations of sending troops and weapons into eastern Ukraine.