MOSCOW, February 19. /TASS/. Ukrainian troops have left loads of ammunition after their retreat from the Debaltsevo area, leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Alexander Zakharchenko told reporters

"The amount of equipment units Ukraine has lost here is beyond description. We have taken loads of ammunition both in Debaltsevo and Uglegorsk," Donetsk news agency quotes Zakharchenko as saying.

The DPR republic head added that a section of the Debaltsevo-Artyomovsk highway in the Logvinovo area has become a "death road" for Ukrainian troops who attempted to break through the encirclement. "According to our estimates, about two Ukrainian battalions were defeated in the area, and the soldiers were buried there as well," he said.

According to Zakharchenko, Ukraine "has lost its best units and a large amount of hardware and ammunition in the Debaltsevo trap."

"Ukraine has once again shown its inability to fight. It abandons its people - the 128th mountain rifle brigade Poroshenko claimed broken out of Debaltsevo is almost entirely destroyed. They were abandoned in the trap as expendables. The same can be said about the 8th special force regiment and all other units of the armed forces of Ukraine and National Guard that fought in the Debaltsevo area," he said.

Donetsk region’ self-defense militia command previously reported that a Ukrainian force grouping numbering 8,000 men opposed them in the Debaltsevo area when the encirclement manoeuvre was launched.