Ukraine’s Aidar battalion reports 11 losses after truce

“Indeed, the second company of the battalion was ambushed already after the declaration of the truce. Preliminary reports suggest eleven people have been killed. We have no information about Melnychuk’s death. He made contact literally a couple of hours ago (around midday),” the commander’s aide Roman Romanovych told Interfax by phone.

He claims that since the ceasefire was declared the enemy tried to violate the truce a number of times.

Earlier, reports surfaced on Ukrainian social-networking sites about the death of the Aidar commander along with a part of the battalion’s second company which was ambushed near Vesela Hora.

Meanwhile, the militia headquarters of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) claimed on Saturday to have destroyed the Aidar territorial-defense battalion in the city of Schastia on the night of Sept. 5.

“Indeed, yesterday our militiamen set up an ambush for them (the Ukrainian military) near the city of Schastia. The enemy got caught and was destroyed,” a source in the militia headquarters told Interfax.

“The enemy losses amounted to 35 fatalities. Three fighters have been captured. Unfortunately, there are injuries but no fatalities on our side,” the source said.

At a meeting in Minsk on Sept. 5, the Contact Group signed a protocol on immediate ceasefire from 6 p.m. Kyiv time.

Meanwhile, the defense minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Volodymyr Kononov, told the Ekho Moskvy radio station on Sept. 6 about breach of the ceasefire by the Ukrainian military.

“On our side, the truce is being observed in full. The Ukrainian side is not observing it at all, the firing continues. I have already registered more than 12 breaches of the rules,” the minister said.

Citing local residents’ accounts, Kononov added that the Ukrainian armed forces are approaching the DPR positions with columns of armor, Grad and Uragan rocket launchers, and deploying artillery weapons.

According to Kononov, since the truce was signed, one of the populated areas in eastern Ukraine “has been seized by the Ukrainian army and cut into three parts by armored groups.” The DPR lost contact with 40 fighters who remained in the seized area. The minister would not say which populated area he was talking about.

“The Ukrainian army will have to move away from the DPR borders, otherwise there is no sense in signing the truce protocol, not even truce but a temporary ceasefire,” Kononov said.

He also said that about 100 militiamen, including those injured, are held captive by the Ukrainian military, whereas the DPR authorities have around 700 Ukrainian troops in their hands.