Ukrainian Flag 'To Be Raised' In Slavyansk

The Ukrainian president has ordered the army to raise the national flag in Slavyansk after the rebels reportedly fled their eastern stronghold.

Earlier, a Ukrainian minister had said the pro-Russian separatists and a top commander had fled, though a rebel spokesman said they were relocating to a nearby town.

President Petro Poroshenko's website said the separatist fighters had come under mortar fire as they tried to break through government forces' lines.

The website, citing the newly appointed head of the armed forces general staff, said the separatists had lost one tank and other armoured vehicles.

Government forces at a checkpoint near Slavyansk on Friday

"The President gave the order ... for the state flag to be raised on Slavyansk's town council offices," it said.

The town council office was one of the main buildings where the rebels had been based.

However, Slavyansk's self-proclaimed separatist mayor told the AFP news agency that while the rebels are out, government troops are yet to enter the town.

"The fighters have left. The Ukrainian army is not yet in Slavyansk. There are no authorities in the town," Volodymyr Pavlenko was quoted as saying.

Separatists seized the industrial city of nearly 120,000 people on April 6, and on May 30 rebels there brought down a military helicopter killing 14 servicemen.

Ukraine launched its first major assault nearly three months ago

The interior minister, Arsen Avakov, said in a Facebook post that the militias were fleeing to Gorlivka, a city of 260,000 about 50km (30 miles) southeast of Slavyansk that remains largely under the rebels' control.

He also wrote that civilians were taking over roadblocks previously controlled by the insurgents "and carrying weapons and bulletproof vests abandoned by the rebels".

This week, Ukraine's ceasefire with pro-Russian separatists expired and Mr Poroshenko said his forces would go on the offensive against the rebels.

But, amid increasing violence, Mr Poroshenko on Friday called for immediate crisis talks with rebel commanders and Russia.

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