01:28Ukraine: '1000s of Kiev troops encircled, tanks captured' - DPR PM Zakharchenko
Two large groups of Kiev troops and armour have been encircled by anti-Kiev fighters, self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Prime Minister Alexander Zakharchenko said at a press conference in Donetsk, Sunday. He also said that DPR fighters had seized military hardware during the counteroffensive.
Approximately 1,200 Ukraine soldiers are dead or wounded and now two groups are surrounded in the Amvrosievskiy district, the DPR PM said. Kiev forces, he added, lost around 45 combat vehicles, while around 14 such vehicles were captured by anti-Kiev forces. The DPR says some 5,000 Kiev troops “with military hardware” including some 50 tanks, over 200 armoured vehicles and 50 artillery rocket systems are trapped.
Zakharchenko also commented on a parade of captured Kiev soldiers in Donetsk earlier in the day, saying they had fulfilled Poroshenko's promise that Ukrainian soldiers would parade through Donetsk on Independence Day, August 24.
According to the UN, at least 2,086 people have been killed during the east Ukraine conflict, with more than half the deaths occurring in August. Over 5,000 have been wounded. A further 110,000 have been internally displaced and over 730,000 refugees have crossed the border into Russia.
01:28Two large groups of Kiev troops and armour have been encircled by anti-Kiev fighters, self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Prime Minister Alexander Zakharchenko said at a press conference in Donetsk, Sunday. He also said that DPR fighters had seized military hardware during the counteroffensive.
Approximately 1,200 Ukraine soldiers are dead or wounded and now two groups are surrounded in the Amvrosievskiy district, the DPR PM said. Kiev forces, he added, lost around 45 combat vehicles, while around 14 such vehicles were captured by anti-Kiev forces. The DPR says some 5,000 Kiev troops “with military hardware” including some 50 tanks, over 200 armoured vehicles and 50 artillery rocket systems are trapped.
Zakharchenko also commented on a parade of captured Kiev soldiers in Donetsk earlier in the day, saying they had fulfilled Poroshenko's promise that Ukrainian soldiers would parade through Donetsk on Independence Day, August 24.
According to the UN, at least 2,086 people have been killed during the east Ukraine conflict, with more than half the deaths occurring in August. Over 5,000 have been wounded. A further 110,000 have been internally displaced and over 730,000 refugees have crossed the border into Russia.