DONETSK, August 27. /ITAR-TASS/. Donetsk self-defense forces have made further advances in their counter-offensive, inflicting heavy losses on the Ukrainian troops, the militia headquarters reported on Wednesday.

At least 129 servicemen of the Ukrainian army and the National Guard have surrendered to the militia in the settlement of Starobeshevo, the militia headquarters said.

During the night battle in the settlements of Avdeyevka and Yasinovataya near Donetsk, “25 Ukrainian punitive troops were either killed or wounded and they also lost two armored personnel carriers, a tank and a depot with ammunition,” the militia headquarters said.

Donetsk fighters also destroyed 4 Grad multiple launch rocket systems with their teams, two tanks and two armored vehicles near the settlement of Krasnogorovka.

The militia’s reconnaissance detected a large concentration of Ukrainian troops near the settlement of Vorovskoye south-west of Donetsk, after which the Donetsk fighters subjected the area to artillery fire, destroying 11 pieces of the armor, including T-64 tanks. Ukrainian manpower losses are being specified, the militia headquarters said.

“Near the settlement of Kuteinikovo, 94 Ukrainian army servicemen surrendered after negotiations. In Starobeshevo, Donetsk fighters seized 4 Msta-S self-propelled artillery guns and destroyed 12 infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers. The enemy lost 19 servicemen and more than 40 Ukrainian troops were wounded,” the militia headquarters said, adding that the counter-offensive was continuing.

The militia headquarters earlier reported that the Donetsk People’s Republic, which had formed united armed forces, launched a counter-offensive on August 24 and 25, encircling three large groupings of Ukrainian troops.

The Donetsk self-defense fighters blocked over 7,000 Ukrainian troops and over 400 pieces of the armor, the militia headquarters said.

The pro-Kiev grouping trapped in the cauldron also included over 40 tanks, about 100 infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers and airborne combat vehicles and about 50 Grad and Uragan multiple launch rocket systems, the militia headquarters said.

Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko said on Tuesday that militias had intensified fighting in the eastern and southern fronts in the Donetsk Region.