UNIAN reports that Hennadiy Moskal, the governor of the Lugansk region, has written on his Facebook page that 112 soldiers from the Ukrainian army and the National Guard have been surrounded near the Bakhmutka highway, near the village of Smile, in the Lugansk region.

Moskal writes that the troops were attacked by militants operating under the banner of the ’32nd unit of the Army of the Don Cossacks’ led by Pavel Dremov.

The Russian or Russian-backed fighters were, according to Moskal, equipped with around 20 tanks and “two dozen other armoured vehicles.”

Several Ukrainian armoured vehicles were destroyed and and at least 5 were killed.

The attack and encirclement came after a day of engagements between separatist fighters and Ukrainian forces at different checkpoints in the area.

UNIAN reports:

[Moskal] said that yesterday from 0800 to 0840 and then from 1010 there had been continuous mortar and small arms attacks on a National Guard checkpoint No.32 near the village of Smile in Slavyanoserbsk district. “At 1045 there was a clash between the militants and the 24th brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, who had come to the aid of the National Guard checkpoint,” Moskal said. “Our side has lost some armored vehicles. At about 1500, a group from the 80th Airmobile Brigade, which had come to help the National Guard, was ambushed. Information about the dead and wounded is being clarified. From 2000 to 2030, the insurgents fired mortars at a position held by the 128th Brigade near the village of Chornuhino in Popasnyanskiy district. At 2130 there was again some shelling. There were no losses on our side.” Then after midnight the militants attacked a Ukrainian army checkpoint near the village of Zolotoye in Popasnyanskiy district, Moskal said. Just after 0200, the gunmen opened fire and then surrounded the area around National Guard checkpoints Nos. 31 and 32 near Bakhmutka. Fighting broke out.

There is no firm information about the situation at Bakhmutka this morning. It is known that 112 soldiers of the Ukrainian army and National Guard have been surrounded. Several wounded and shell-shocked soldiers have been captured, including a battalion commander. The situation can be described as critical. It is impossible to obtain specific information about the number of dead and wounded and losses of armored vehicles, as constant bombardments from the militants’ heavy artillery, which is entrenched in nearby woodland, prevents access to the area. Attempts by [OSCE] representatives to negotiate a ceasefire by phone with the leaders of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) were unsuccessful. The “Army of the Don” militants are not following the orders of the LPR and act at their own discretion, Moskal said.

Yesterday, Moskal had announced that 5 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and three armoured vehicles destroyed in the area during an attack on the checkpoint.

This afternoon, the ATO Headquarters claimed, on their Facebook page, that the checkpoint remained under Ukrainian control. The situation was described as “tough.”

Shortly afterwards, Andrei Lysenko, the spokesman for the Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council, told reporters (translated by The Interpreter):

“A battle is now under way there. One cannot call this an encirclement as we can still deliver reinforcements, ammunition and we can also help with covering fire.”

The militant commander named by Moskal, Pavel Dremov, was recently interviewed by AFP.

Dremov claims to be operating independently of the Donetsk and Lugansk ‘People’s Republics’ and is a local, not a member of the Russian armed forces. He does, however, admit to having fought with pro-Russian forces during the 1992 Transistrian war.

In the interview, Dremov claims he lacks functioning tanks: