Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says his forces have destroyed part of a Russian armoured convoy that crossed into eastern Ukraine, adding: “We won’t tolerate any invasion.”

Military officials in Kiev said they tracked the vehicles, including armoured personnel carriers, from the border and then attacked with artillery.

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Ukrainian government forces are preparing for the final stage of recapturing the city of Donetsk from pro-Russia separatist rebels after making significant gains that have divided rebel forces, a military spokesman said on Monday.

The spokesman, Andriy Lysenko, said Kiev’s forces had cut off Donetsk from the other main rebel-held city, Luhansk, on the border with Russia.

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Alexander Zakharchenko, prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, on Saturday called for a ceasefire with the Kiev government in a move to prevent a possible ‘humanitarian catastrophe.’

“We are ready to have a ceasefire to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe, but will not surrender under any circumstances,” said Zakharchenko in a written statement.

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Fighting in eastern Ukraine reached the main rebel stronghold of Donetsk on Tuesday as separatists and government troops exchanged rocket fire in neighborhoods on the edge of the city.

In a western district of Donetsk, rockets apparently fired from a government position landed in the courtyard of a one-story house, killing an elderly resident.

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Ukrainian soldiers crossed into Russian territory Sunday, but Kiev said Monday they were forced there after running out of ammunition. Moscow is offering another version: The soldiers deserted the Ukrainian army.

Russia gave more than 400 Ukrainian soldiers safe passage into its territory overnight, and only 180 of them asked to be returned to Ukraine, Vasiliy Malayev, head of the border patrol in Russia’s Rostov region, told the Associated Press.

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