You're reading: Associated Press: Ukraine sends elite force to key port of Odessa

 Ukraine sent an elite national guard unit to re-establish control May 5 over the southern port of Odessa and government troops fought pitched gunbattles with a pro-Russia militia around an eastern city. The twin moves reflected an apparent escalation of efforts to bring both regions back under Kyiv's control. The possible double loss of Odessa in the southwest and parts of eastern Ukraine could be catastrophic for the new government, leaving the country landlocked, cut off entirely from the Black Sea.

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