The Donbas battalion, now part of Ukraine’s National Guard, sets for deployment around the strategic port city of Mariupol to help government troops hold their positions near to the frontline of fighting against Russian-backed militants as the shelling intensifies in the past week.
Today, the battalion's main objective is to control the movement of people and goods to and from zones under the Russian proxies’ control, Ukraine Today reports.
The Donbas battalion first formed last year as a volunteer militia group to fight Russian-backed militants in Ukraine's east but has now been incorporated into the framework of Ukraine’s National Guard.
See unian.info’s video section for more of the latest news from Ukraine in video from Ukraine Today, Ukraine’s 24-hour English-language news channel.