MOSCOW, August 12, /ITAR-TASS/. Self-defense fighters in Donetsk People’s Republic, in the southeastern Ukraine, amassed over 200 armored combat vehicles preparing for the counterstrike against pro-Kiev troops near the city of Donetsk, the local news agency Novorossiya said on Tuesday.

The military hardware consists of the combat vehicles in militia’s reserve as well as of the ones captured in the previous armed clashes with the pro-Kiev military.

Pro-Kiev troops and local militias in the eastern Ukrainian Donetsk and Luhansk regions are involved in fierce clashes as the Ukrainian armed forces are conducting a military operation to regain control over the breakaway regions, which on May 11 proclaimed their independence at local referendums.

During the military operation, Kiev has used armored vehicles, heavy artillery and attack aviation. Many buildings have been destroyed and tens of thousands of people have had to flee Ukraine’s embattled east.