Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has tweeted that pro-government forces have captured the town of Zhdanivka, some 40 kilometers northeast of the city of Donetsk.
Poroshenko wrote on his Twitter account on August 16: "The town of Zhdavinka in the Donetsk region has been heroically taken by the armed forces of Ukraine. Glory to Ukraine!"
No independent confirmation of Poroshenko's claim was possible but Ukrainian government forces have been advancing and reclaiming territory in eastern Ukraine seized by pro-Russian separatists several months ago.
The separatists' Novorossia news agency website did not report any fighting in the Zhdanivka area but did say several neighborhoods in Donetsk had been hit by shelling and people had been killed.
