Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko told reporters on Aug. 29 that Ukrainian government forces have killed 26 members of paramilitary groups, mainly Chechens and Russians, during the fighting in eastern Ukraine.
He said that the Ukrainian side consisted of border guards and National Guard units and that 20 pieces of military hardware had been destroyed.
In all, instances of fighting have been registered 35 times in eastern Ukraine throughout the day, Lysenko said. He claimed, in particular, that as a result of a skirmish near the village of Patriotychne, the enemy had been forced to retreat towards Novoazovsk but after that the Russians had fired Grad rockets at two villages, Bezimenne and Samsonove, for 50 minutes.
Furthermore, Ukrainian border guards fired at a column of militants on the crossing between Uspenka, Lysyche and Kalinine, he said. As a result, a KamAZ truck with ammunition, and several more vehicles had been destroyed.
But then the Ukrainian border guards came under mortar fire; there are no losses on the Ukrainian side, Lysenko said.
