AP, Donetsk :
Government forces on Tuesday reported a counter-offensive in rebel-held eastern Ukraine, while the rebels said they were successful in surrounding Ukrainian troops at a strategic railway junction.
The intense fighting, which the U.N. says has killed more than 5,300 people since April, comes ahead of a crucial summit including Western leaders on Wednesday as well as peace talks later Tuesday.
The volunteer Azov battalion said on social media on Tuesday that it captured several villages northeast of the strategic port of Mariupol, pushing the rebels closer to the border with Russia.
Rebel military spokesman Eduard Basurin said in a televised news conference on Tuesday that the fighting in that area is continuing and that the rebels have not retreated.
