SLOVYANSK, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian troops on Tuesday launched an offensive against pro-Russian insurgents in the eastern city of Slovyansk and advanced through the city’s outskirts, the nation’s interior minister said.

Arsen Avakov said that government troops broke through rebel positions around the village of Semenovka on the eastern fringe of Slovyansk. “An active offensive stage of the counterterrorist operation is underway in Slovyansk,” he wrote on his Facebook page.