Ukraine: Ukrainian forces retake city of Mariupol
The Ukrainian government has announced its forces have retaken the southern city of Mariupol from pro-Russian separatist gunmen, and in heavy fighting has also retaken control of a long stretch of the border with Russia.
The port of Mariupol, Ukraine’s biggest on the Sea of Azov, is a key objective as it opens the way to a land link between Ukraine’s east and Crimea, now annexed by Russia but cut off from the rest of the country.