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| Ukraine conflict: Ground forces 'storming Luhansk' | Ukraine conflict: Ground forces 'storming Luhansk' |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Government forces in eastern Ukraine have begun storming the rebel-held city of Luhansk with tanks, Russian news agency reports quoting rebels say. | Government forces in eastern Ukraine have begun storming the rebel-held city of Luhansk with tanks, Russian news agency reports quoting rebels say. |
| Heavy fighting erupted as columns of government armour attacked from the south and west, rebel military leader Igor Strelkov was quoted as saying. | Heavy fighting erupted as columns of government armour attacked from the south and west, rebel military leader Igor Strelkov was quoted as saying. |
| He said there were unconfirmed reports of special forces landing by helicopter inside the city of 425,000 people. | He said there were unconfirmed reports of special forces landing by helicopter inside the city of 425,000 people. |
| A local pro-Ukrainian blogger tweeted about hearing explosions and sirens. | A local pro-Ukrainian blogger tweeted about hearing explosions and sirens. |
| There was no immediate confirmation of the military operation from official Ukrainian sources. | |
| The anonymous blogger, who tweets as @journal1st_88, also wrote of hearing shooting and planes flying overhead. | |
| Pro-Russian separatist rebels have been fighting the government in Kiev since declaring independence in Luhansk and the neighbouring region of Donetsk in April. | |
| 'Seventy tanks' | |
| "Heavy fighting is under way on the outskirts of Luhansk," Strelkov told Ria-Novosti news agency. | |
| "The enemy has thrown around 70 tanks into the battle in two compact groups of armour. There is as yet unconfirmed information about a helicopter landing of enemy special forces in the city itself." | |
| The rebels were fighting artillery skirmishes with the Ukrainian army "along the front", he said. | |
| The government began an "anti-terrorist operation" in April to crush the rebellion in the eastern regions. | |
| On Friday, it suffered one of its heaviest losses when an armoured column was hit by rebel rockets in Donetsk region and at least 19 soldiers were killed and about 100 injured. | |
| More than 1,000 civilians and combatants are believed to have died in the fighting since April. | |
| Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has announced he will not be attending the football World Cup final in Brazil. | |
| He had been expected to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin there to discuss the crisis. |