You're reading: Donetsk militants send 34 pro-Russian separatists bodies to Russia – leader

DONETSK – The bodies of 34 Russian rebels who have been killed fighting on the side of the Donetsk militants at Donetsk airport were sent off to Russia on May 29, said the prime minister of the unilaterally proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic," Alexander Borodai.

 Borodai, who was talking to reports, also said the airport was under the control of the Ukrainian army currently. “The ruins of the airport are under the control of Kyiv. Tremendous enemy forces are concentrated in that area,” he said.

“We can’t collect all the bodies from the airport as it is cordoned off. The city is ready for defense,” Borodai said.

He added that Donetsk region’s illegal armed formations were mainly fighting “not Kyiv but the battalions of the Dnipropetrovsk oligarch Kolomoisky.”