DONETSK, August 01. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukrainian paratroopers, engaged in a military operation against separatist militia, have suffered losses, the leadership of Ukraine’s Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) said on Friday.

They were ambushed by militias near the city of Shakhtarsk in the eastern Donetsk region. Ten troops were killed in the clash with separatists.

Representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) said they repulsed an assault of Ukrainian troops that entered Shakhtarsk early on Friday on heavy armoured vehicles and opened indiscriminate fire at buildings.

The militia also said that in the disabled armoured vehicles of the Ukrainian troops they found looted valuables of the local residents, reports the official news agency of the self-proclaimed Novorossia republic. “They took combat medals from the elderly, looted private homes,” a militia representative told Novorossia agency.

In addition to the military decorations, other personal belongings of the city residents were found in the armoured vehicles. The militias also found in them a flag, club, maps, cartridge use manuals and documents with insignia of the 25th air mobile brigade of the Ukrainian army.

The militias took prisoner three Ukrainian troops. The captives said that during the preparation for security operations, Ukrainian officers get the tramadol opioid analgesic for distribution among the soldiers.