DONETSK, August 20. /ITAR-TASS/. Nine Ukrainian servicemen were reported dead as a result of street clashes in the town of Ilovaisk, Donetsk region, on Wednesday, the Interior Minister’s adviser Anton Gerashchenko told the UNN (Ukrainian National News) agency.

“The Donbas battalion is controlling a half of the town, which is divided by a railroad,” Gerashchenko said, adding that militias “have entrenched themselves in the other part of the city and fighting fiercely.”

Among the dead servicemen he named “a Ukrainian citizen of US descent”.

Earlier, the Ukrainian National Guard’s press service said Ukrainian troops had taken control of the town.

“The Donbas troops together with servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the territorial defense battalions Dnepr and Shakhtersk are continuing the operation to liberate Ilovaisk,” the press service said.

The Ukrainian army is controlling the entire town. But militias are conducting artillery-and tank-led counter-attacks, it said.

At the moment the ITAR-TASS News Agency has no confirmation of these reports from other sources.