Ukraine retakes strategic rebel-held port

 KIEV: Ukrainian forces said they had hoisted the national flag over the strategic rebel-held port of Mariupol Friday in their biggest advance since Petro Poroshenko's election as the insurgency-wrecked country's pro-Western president, according to a news agency.
Poroshenko celebrated the soldiers' "heroism" by proclaiming the industrial Sea of Azov city of half-a-million people the new temporary capital of Donetsk -- an eastern rustbelt region overrun by pro-Russian gunmen for the past two months.
The 48-year-old chocolate baron rose to power in a snap May 25 ballot called after the February ouster of a Russian-backed leader by vowing to move Ukraine closer to Europe and end fighting that has claimed 270 lives.
But the battles have since only intensified and his calls for dialogue with more separatist leaders have been mostly ignored.
Poroshenko's troubles have been compounded by the threat of Ukraine being cut off from economically-vital Russian gas shipments as early as Monday morning because of a bitter price dispute.