Donetsk Rebel Commander Says We’re Surrounded By Ukrainian Forces

DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — A top commander of the pro-Russia insurgency in eastern Ukraine says Ukrainian forces have seized a key town, leaving the rebel region's largest city of Donetsk surrounded.

The statement by Igor Girkin appears to be a significant admission that Ukrainian forces are gaining the upper hand in the four-month-old fight.

Girkin is a former Russian special service officer better known by his nom de guerre of Strelkov. He says the town (Krasnyi Luch) on one of the two main roads between Donetsk and the rebel-held east's other main city of Luhansk, "has been taken by the enemy."

A spokesman for the Ukrainian military operation says he can't confirm that government forces have taken the town.

In Donetsk, a spokesman for the city administration says at least one person was killed and several injured in shelling of the city's southern area today.

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