KIEV, July 25./ITAR-TASS/.Since the beginning of the military operation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, 325 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and 1,232 have been wounded, the press secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council, Andrei Lysenko, told a briefing on Friday.

Thirteen Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the conflict zone over the past 24 hours, he said.

The military operation in eastern Ukraine was launched on April 15.

Fighters of the Artyom corps of the self-proclaimed Donetsk Republic's army destroyed a checkpoint of the Ukrainian military near the town of Debaltsevo, the republic's Novorossia news agency reported.

The enemy's two Kamaz trucks that were carrying about 60 Ukrainian soldiers and an artillery gun were destroyed, the agency said, referring to the republic's state security ministry.

Militia of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics reported thousands of Ukrainian troops were killed during the operation.