Here's a short item from our news desk on the latest developments in and around Mariupol:
Officials in southeastern Ukraine say the government-held port city of Mariupol was being targeted by heavy barrages of Grad rockets on January 24.
The mayor's office of Mariupol said at least three people had been killed by long-range rockets in a southeastern residential district near roads that have come under attack from Russian-backed separatists.
The volunteer Azov regiment that is defending Mariupol against a separatist offensive said there were "many wounded" in the attack.
Meanwhile, separatist fighters further to the north said on January 24 that they captured villages outside of Donetsk from government forces.
Heavy fighting was reported across a half-dozen areas in eastern Ukraine on January 24, a day after separatist leader Aleksandr Zakharchenko announced a rebel offensive aimed at taking control over the entire region of Donetsk.
Zakharchenko also said separatists "won’t make an effort to talk about a cease-fire" in the nine-month-old conflict, which has killed more than 5,000 people.
(Reuters, AP, AFP, Interfax)