Ukrainian Donbas Battalion ambushed in Donetsk Oblast village; at least five killed

An unspecified number were
captured, the press center added. Reporting from Karlivka, Agence France-Presse stated that at least four separatists were also killed in the same confrontation. 

The ambush took place around 6 a.m. on
May 23 while the group was approaching a separatist-held checkpoint near a dam reservoir
next to the village where usually “7-10 people stood guard,” Semyon Semenchenko,
the group’s leader, told 112 Ukraina television channel.

Instead up to 200 Kremlin-backed separatists
surrounded the battalion and used automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades
and sniper fire from rifles, he posted on Facebook. An hour later, the separatists
were reinforced by an armored personnel carrier, heavy machine guns and grenades.

“Just 15 kilometers from here in the
direction of Krasnoarmiysk there is a Ukrainian military checkpoint with four
armored personnel carriers,” Semenchenko posted to Facebook. “We can’t get to
our (surrounded) comrades, there is sniper fire. All of my calls to military
commanders have fallen on deaf ears.”

Relaying a telephone message from
Semenchenko on Facebook, military expert and blogger Dmitry Tymchuk later said “well-trained Chechen forces” were among the separatists.

Fighters from the nationalist group
Praviy Sektor subsequently joined the fight and succeeded in partially breaking
the encirclement to allow the core of the Donbas Battalion to escape, said Praviy
Sektor leader Dmytro Yarosh on Facebook.

“We have [an unspecified number] killed
in action, many are wounded…our marines came,” posted Yarosh.

He complained of help not coming sooner to
the Donbas Battalion: “Again, either the counterterrorist operation leadership is
incompetent or they are traitors…again, our boys have too few weapons, are
ill-equipped, while the terrorists have superior arms.”

The press center of the Donbas Battalion would not confirm
or refute reports that Right Sector members arrived to help.

Meanwhile, the press service of the Right Sector says that four
soldiers of the Donbas battalion were captured, or killed. About two thirds of
the group – around twenty men – were wounded. There were no losses among the
Right Sector fighters, but two soldiers received light injuries, Interfax Ukraine
reported.

The wounded were taken to the military
checkpoint near Krasnoarmiysk.

Kyiv
Post editor Mark Rachkevych can be reached at rachkevych@kyivpost.com.