Russian forces take Chernobyl workers' town as fighting continues in Mariupol

Intense fighting was reported in a number of places on Saturday, suggesting there would be no swift let-up in the conflict, which has killed thousands of people

A man walks behind a crater created by a bomb and in front of damaged houses following a Russian bombing earlier this week.(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Russian forces have taken control of a town where workers at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant live, the governor of the Kyiv region has said as fighting was reported in the streets of the besieged southern port of Mariupol.

After more than four weeks of conflict, Russia has failed to seize any major Ukrainian city and on Friday Moscow signalled it was scaling back its military ambitions to focus on territory claimed by Russian-backed separatists in the east.