A rebel stronghold retaken

Slaviansk's re-capture represents Kiev's most notable military victory in three months of fighting in which more than 200 Ukrainian troops have been killed as well as hundreds of civilians and rebels.

The conflict has left scars on the landscape, with destroyed military vehicles lying by the side of a road just outside the eastern town.

In the image above, a National Guard soldier checks a house where pro-Russian separatists stayed in Slaviansk, a town of 120,000 people where the rebels held sway since separatist uprisings erupted in eastern regions of Ukraine in April.

The crisis began when street protests ousted Moscow-backed Viktor Yanukovich in late February for rejecting a landmark political and trade deal with the European Union in favour of closer ties with Russia.

Russia subsequently annexed Crimea and separatist revolts against the new Kiev authorities broke out with rebels declaring "people's republics" and saying they wanted to join Russia.

Now, Ukrainian flags have replaced Russian ones atop Slaviansk's government buildings for the first time in months and, in the image above, a group of people wait for food aid from Ukrainian soldiers.

Government forces said they have full control of Slaviansk as well as the nearby town of Kramatorsk.

Many rebels appeared to have retreated towards Donetsk, the east's main industrial hub.

With Ukrainian soldiers, like the man pictured above, in Slaviansk, the fight is now moving elsewhere in the east.

A security official said the government's plan to clear rebels from the two big towns of Donetsk and Luhansk would come as an "nasty surprise" for the insurgents, while the militants said they were preparing to fight back after losing their main stronghold.