DONETSK, March 27. /TASS/. Russian forces captured six Ukrainian soldiers in battles near Artyomovsk (called Bakhmut in Ukraine) in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the DPR people’s militia reported on Monday.

"Another six Ukrainian service members were captured in the Artyomovsk area. These are fighters of the [Ukrainian army’s] 110th territorial defense brigade," the DPR people’s militia said, adding that all of the captured Ukrainian soldiers had voluntarily laid down their arms.

A spokesman for the DPR people’s militia told TASS on March 26 that about 70 Ukrainian soldiers had laid down their arms and surrendered to Russian forces on DPR territory over the past two weeks. According to the spokesman’s data, these were mostly Ukrainian servicemen from the Avdeyevka, Donetsk and Ugledar frontline areas.