Homes in ruins, downed power lines snaking through the debris and trees reduced to splintered stumps dominate the landscape in this corner of eastern Ukraine.
"Vuglegirsk had 9,500 inhabitants. At most there's 500 left and most of them live in cellars," said rebel commander Alexei, 32, who declined to give his last name.
The streets are nearly deserted and there is no sign of life in the buildings, which have neither water, gas, nor electricity.
Rebels are gaining ground as they close in on Debaltseve, which is roughly halfway between the separatist strongholds of Donetsk and Lugansk. They have been pounding the beleaguered town with tanks and rocket launchers.
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Kiev authorities said day that artillery strikes had killed three civilians and wounded seven in Debaltseve, a typical daily toll for the town that was home to 25,000 people. Around 700 civilians fled on Saturday during a brief ceasefire.
As he spoke in Vuglegirsk, armoured vehicles sped through on their way to the front across countryside littered with gun emplacements and military camps.
Besides Debaltseve's strategic value, its fall would be a new symbolic blow for Kiev in the wake of the loss of Donetsk airport in January after months of fierce fighting.
"Taking Vuglegirsk was difficult, it took us three days," said a rebel commander, 43, who gave his name only as Dima.
"Our unit was the first to go in. There were 25 of us and we lost 12 men. Now, our objective is Debaltseve," he vowed.
But at the front, rebel commanders and troops do not have much faith in a new truce.
"Ceasefires are never respected. They just let forces regroup," said Alexei.