MELITOPOL, April 21. /TASS/. Eight soldiers from the 110th territorial defense brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces, which is stationed in the Zaporozhye area, have surrendered to Russian forces, Vladimir Rogov, chairman of the ‘We Are Together with Russia’ movement, told TASS on Friday.

"Eight people from Zaporozhye territorial defense units have surrendered in the Zaporozhye area. They are soldiers from the Ukrainian armed forces’ 110th brigade from the Vostok grouping. Eight people at a time is a lot for our area," he said.

On Tuesday, Rogov told TASS that Ukrainian forces might take active action on the line of contact in the Zaporozhye Region within a week. According to his estimates, in the event of an offensive, the Ukrainian forces will avoid fighting in cities and towns as they do not have sufficient manpower, but will battle through to the Sea of Azov, east of Melitopol, so as to cut off the land route to Crimea. In late March, Rogov told TASS that the Ukrainian military had amassed up to 75,000 troops in the Zaporozhye area, even after an offensive attempt on March 23 which was thwarted by Russian forces and saw as many as 400 Ukrainian soldiers lose their lives.