LUHANSK, August 15. /ITAR-TASS/. Militia in Ukraine's town of Luhansk said on Friday they have captured a reconnaissance group of National Guard tasked with preparing an attack on the Russian humanitarian aid convoy.

A load of weapons and ammunition was found in a car carrying three saboteurs, the militia headquarters of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic and Donetsk People's Republic said.

"The weapons and ammunition were hidden in bags of food," a headquarters representative said.

During an interrogation, the saboteurs said their mission was to plant mines along a local road and attack the Russian convoy delivering humanitarian aid to residents of south-eastern Ukraine.

One of the detainees said the Ukrainian army had sent seven teams of saboteurs to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and that these groups were setting up ambushes on roads leading to militia-controlled areas.

He also said that Ukrainian security officials had instructed them to send the convoy back to the border without killing the Russians accompanying the cargo.

The detainee admitted that the provocation aimed at preventing the supply of food and medicines to the militia-controlled territory.

A search is underway for other Ukrainian saboteurs, the militia headquarters said.