This is what ‘fighting terror’ in eastern Ukraine looks like right now (PHOTOS)

ARTEMIVSK, Ukraine — Although government forces say they’re steadily closing in on pro-Russia separatists based in the eastern cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, the situation on the ground here remains fluid, with rebels staging counterattacks.

As the violence increases amid rumors of a possible Russian invasion from across the border, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights says the conflict has already killed more than 1,100 people, including government forces, separatists and civilians.

Here’s what it looked like this week.

A team of international experts scours a wheat field at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in the village of Hrabove. The contingent suspended its mission this week after security concerns amid fighting between Ukrainian and rebel forces near the site.

A piece of wreckage from MH17 lies on the side of a road as local residents flee nearby shelling on a motorcycle.

Separatist insurgents examine a plume of smoke in the distance near the crash site of MH17.

Pro-Russian rebels blew up a bridge near Debaltseve to slow down the Ukrainian army as they retreated south last month toward their new stronghold of Donetsk.

A deputy commander of the Donbass Battalion, a pro-government paramilitary force, points toward the front line — roughly 5 miles away — from which rebels occasionally shell their base.

Buckwheat and stewed pork: typical lunchtime fare for soldiers in the pro-Ukrainian Donbass Battalion.

Local residents pass a bombed-out apartment block in Popasna, a front line city held by Ukrainian forces. Many local residents blame the Ukrainian army for indiscriminately shelling civilian areas.

Viktor Demidov, a resident of Dzerzhinsk, about 30 miles north of the rebel stronghold of Donetsk, talks about injuries he sustained after being shot by unidentified men in camouflage late last month amid the Ukrainian army’s attempt to retake the city from rebels.

Members of the Artemivsk Battalion, a pro-Ukraine paramilitary unit, engage in an operation to eliminate a suspected rebel — a “terrorist,” as pro-Ukraine officials say — in central Artemivsk.

The shell of an apartment destroyed during an operation to detain a suspected rebel operative in Artemivsk this week. He was eventually taken alive, although heavily injured, after a nearly hour-long firefight.

A popular hashtag conceived by pro-Russia rebels and their sympathizers spray-painted on an empty billboard in Artemivsk. “Donbass” refers to the greater geographical area that includes the rebellious Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

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