You're reading: Financial Times: Ukraine rebels vow to fight on after abandoning Slavyansk

Pro-Russian separatist militants in Ukraine’s breakaway eastern regions have vowed to fight on after fleeing in convoys of tanks and other military vehicles from their former of stronghold of Slavyansk to regroup in the provincial capital Donetsk.

Secessionist fighters spent the day digging into positions in Donetsk and in Lugansk, the other major city in the east, in anticipation of a showdown with Ukraine’s army and security forces, while simultaneously pleading for Moscow to intervene. Up to 1,000 people backing their cause gathered in central Donetsk, amid reports of sporadic shooting and explosions.

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