Army Headquarters of the breakaway People's Republic of Donetsk said that the militia managed to block the city of Mariupol, taking control over a section of a highway linking the city with the Zaporozhye region.
Militia forces continue the offensive, representatives of the Defense Ministry of the People's Republic of Donetsk said. Militia forces control nine settlements, and have now nearly blocked the city of Mariupol. The distance between the city and different parts of the front varies from 12 to 25 kilometers. According to militia, since the beginning of counteroffensive, the militia have reached the coast of the Sea of Azov and taken control of a significant part of the territory that borders on Russia.
Meanwhile, the commander of the Ukrainian so-called territorial defense battalion Aydar, Sergei Melnychuk, said that his fighters retreated from two villages near Luhansk. "The retreat of Aydar battalion from two villages was due to numerical superiority of the enemy," said Melnychuk in the video posted on YouTube.