Refugees from the city of Luhansk sit inside a car at a checkpoint near the eastern Ukrainian town of Debaltseve, August 16, 2014

© Thomson Reuters 2014

Fighting was taking place on Tuesday in the centre of Luhansk, near Ukraine's border with Russia, between government forces and separatist rebels who have held the town since April, a Ukrainian military spokesman said."One district of the town has been liberated. Fighting is going on in the central part of the town," the spokesman, Andriy Lysenko, told journalists.