MARIUPOL, Ukraine, Sept 8 (Reuters) - President Petro Poroshenko visited the eastern Ukrainian port of Mariupol on Monday in a show of solidarity with its embattled citizens and vowed to defend it from pro-Russian separatists who advanced towards it last week before a ceasefire agreement.
"This is our Ukrainian land and we will not give it up to anybody," he wrote on his Twitter account.
On arriving in the city of 500,000, which is vital for Ukraine's steel exports, Poroshenko said: "I have ordered (the military) to secure the defence of Mariupol with ... multiple rocket-launchers, tanks ... and air cover ... The enemy will suffer a crushing defeat." (Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic, writing by Gareth Jones)
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