A Ukrainian forces serviceman guards their position at the check-point near Slavyansk, Donetsk region on July 4, 2014.
Government forces hoisted the Ukrainian flag on Saturday over the pro-Russian rebels' main stronghold of Slavyansk after flushing them out of the eastern industrial city, the defence minister said.
"A minute ago the Ukrainian national flag was raised over the Slavyansk city council before a lineup of Ukrainian soldiers," Defence Minister Valeriy Geletey told President Petro Poroshenko in a statement posted on the Ukrainian administration's website.