MOSCOW. July 24 (Interfax) - A militia force drove out a Ukrainian army unit from the village of Blahodatne in Amvrosiyivka district, Donetsk region, on Wednesday, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic said.
"A unit of the 2nd Slav Battalion has driven a Ukrainian punitive force from the village of Blahodatne, which they captured several hours before," the DPR tweeted.
The DPR also said militia forces had been able to beat off a Ukrainian army advance on Horlivka. "DPR units have rebuffed an attack by Ukrainian army assault groups on Horlivka (on the Vuhlehirsk side). Reports are coming in about battles in Debaltseve," it said.
Earlier on Wednesday, the DPR's militia command in Donetsk told Interfax that militia forces had retreated from the villages of Kozhevna and Chervona Zarya in Donetsk region, which lie near the Russian border, after lengthy battles.
"The [villages] have been left. We have lost three men as wounded, two armored infantry fighting vehicles and two tanks," the command said.
Before dawn on Wednesday, Ukrainian warplanes were bombing the area of Snizhne within a 40-kilometer radius of the site of last week's crash of a Malaysian jetliner. "There was a bomb strike in the vicinity of Saur-Mohyla. Moreover, parachutes were noticed. Apparently aid was being parachuted to Ukrainian units encircled near the border," the command said.