KYIV/DONETSK. Jan 21 (Interfax) - Eight Ukrainian soldiers were captured on Tuesday morning because of poor visibility conditions near Donetsk airport, Advisor to the Ukrainian President Yury Biryukov has said.
There was a heavy fog in the area on Tuesday morning - visibility around 20-30 meters, "several dozen paratroopers were on the way to rescue their fellow fighters at Donetsk airport," he wrote on his Facebook page.
"They had to move on a flat concrete surface, without a single reference point. And they missed, they missed by 800 meters by taking slightly to the left. And they hit straight into the place of militant concentration. A fight ensued. Some were killed. And eight people were captured. There may have been no formal announcement yet, but it is unlikely anyone will deny it now- there are names, there are documents," the presidential advisor wrote.
The leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Alexander Zakharchenko, explained how the Ukrainian soldiers had been captured around Donetsk airport.
"Two captives were taken near the new terminal, another was taken along with his crew near the Putilov Bridge on Sunday," Zakharchenko told reporters.
For his part, one of the captives, tank mechanic Dmitry told reporters that his tank's caterpillar track had been damaged during a militia attack.
"I was doing training in the Chernihiv region, arrived (in Donbas) at 5 a.m. on Sunday. The task was to arrive at the bridge. We came under fire, turned around and had our caterpillar damaged," he said, adding that this was the first time he had been in combat.
The DPR told Interfax earlier that militias had captured seven Ukrainian soldiers. "Today seven Ukrainian military servicemen were captured: two officers, a lieutenant colonel and a lieutenant," a senior DPR defense official Eduard Basurin told reporters. The servicemen were held during hostilities at Donetsk airport, he said.