SLAVIANSK, Ukraine — Ukrainian forces said they had killed several pro-Russian militants in clashes as they closed in on the separatist-held city of Slaviansk on Thursday, seizing rebel checkpoints and setting up roadblocks as helicopters circled overhead. Reuters journalists saw a Ukrainian detachment with five armored personnel carriers take over a checkpoint on a road north of the city in late morning after it was abandoned by separatists who set tires alight to cover their retreat. Earlier, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said its forces and troops from the Defense Ministry had killed “up to five terrorists” while destroying three militant checkpoints northeast of the center. A separatist spokeswoman in Slaviansk said early in the morning that two fighters had been killed in a clash in the same area, near a road leading to the town of Sviatogorsk. Ukraine's government said it took back Sviatogorsk from gunmen on Wednesday as it relaunched an “anti-terrorist” operation to regain control of the Russian-speaking east. — Reuters
