The fiercely contested port of the embattled south-eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol is under Russian control, Donetsk separatist leader Denis Pushilin has said, in remarks cited by Russian news agencies RIA and Interfax.
Ukrainian officials did not confirm the claim, but accused Russia of seizing a ship at the port and arresting its crew of 19.
The Ukrainian parliament's human rights commissioner Lyudmyla Denisova wrote on Telegram that Russian troops had fired on the Liberian-flagged ship, and that the prisoners included Ukrainians and an Egyptian national.
On Sunday pro-Russian separatists claimed that Ukrainian troops had seized two foreign ships and their crews in Mariupol and that they were shelling the city from the vessels.
The separatists have been fighting with the support of the Russian army to capture Mariupol, which is strategically important due to its location on the Sea of Azov.
