UNIAN reports that Andrei Lysenko, the spokesman for the Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council has told reporters at a briefing in Kiev today that "a battle is under way just outside the village of Nikolaevka."

Lysenko also said that Russian-backed fighters were shelling Ukrainian defence positions near Chermalyk and Novoselovka with mortars.

Mariupol news site 0629.com.ua reported that residents in the Ordzhonikidze district of the city had told them of hearing salvoes from heavy weaponry in the Vostochny neighbourhood and on Leningrad avenue.

Dmitry Gorbunov, a military spokesman, told 0629 that Russian-backed militants were firing Grad rockets from the occupied village of Shirokino. He said they were either firing at Ukrainian positions or conducting an exercise.

Here is a map identifying the locations discussed above:

-- Pierre Vaux