Ukraine forces seize major city

The Ukrainian military seized a key city in eastern Ukraine while pro-Russian fighters shot down a Ukrainian fighter jet.

Reuters says that troops of the Ukrainian military have raised the yellow and blue of the Ukrainian flag above the police station in the city of Luhansk. The police station had previously been the headquarters of separatists operating out of Luhansk.

The capture of Luhansk is strategically significant for two reasons. The first is that it is one of the two remaining cities that pro-Russian fighters control. The other is Donetsk.

Luhansk is also strategically crucial because of its proximity to the Russian border on a major road on the way to Donetsk. With control of Luhansk, the Ukrainian military's goal of cutting off the flow of supplies and men to Donetsk will be much easier to accomplish.

Reuters says that although the Ukrainian military raised the Ukrainian flag over the police station, there was still fierce fighting in neighborhoods throughout Luhansk.

The leader of the breakaway Donetsk People's Republic brushed aside concerns about the Ukrainian military's advances. He said that around 1,200 fighters would be arriving from Russia with 150 armored vehicles and 30 tanks to reinforce the fighters still in Luhansk. He also said that the fighters had received training in Russia, poking holes in the Russian government's official proclamations that it has had nothing to do with the separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine.

Reuters says that although the Russian forces shot down one of their fighter jets, the pilot was able to eject before the crashed. The Ukrainian military says that a search party was able to locate and rescue the pilot.

These rapid military gains come just as the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine meet with their French and German counterparts in Berlin to try to defuse the situation.