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Developments in eastern Ukraine

Ukraine’s army retreats as militia advances in east

KIEV, July 17, /ITAR-TASS/. The reports from Ukraine’s south-east say that militias of the self-proclaimed Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics have managed to advance in those regions.

Official Kiev has made no statements on the issue so far.

Reports from the militia headquarters say that the Ukrainian military have abandoned four townships on the Lugansk outskirts, the capital city of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) while the self-defence fighters entered the villages of Sabovka, Govorukha, Roskoshnoye and Georgievka.

At the same time units of the Ukrainian National Guard abandoned their positions in the village of Provalye.

The militiamen are advancing forward in the Donetsk Republic as well. Near the Marinovka locality 5,000 Ukrainian servicemen were entrapped and retreated.

In the nearby area of the village of Mospino the DPR units opened fire from the 120mm mortars on the enemy’s fortified positions that destroyed its freight and armoured transport an anti-tank system and killed 50 servicemen.

The combat actions for the villages of Amvrosiyevka and Izvarino are reported to go on.

The self-defence forces say that Ukrainian servicemen “on a massive scale drop their arms and flee into the Russian territory, with the estimated number of 100 people.

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Eastern Ukraine

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