A Russian-backed separatist leader in eastern Ukraine said his forces aimed to encircle the Ukrainian port of Mariupol on Tuesday, RIA news agency said.
"The task for today is to directly encircle Mariupol," it quoted Donetsk separatist leader Denis Pushilin as saying in a television interview.
Earlier, the mayor of the city said it was under constant shelling.
(Reporting by Moscow bureau; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
