KYIV. Feb 19 (Interfax) - Only 2,475 Ukrainian servicemen withdrew from the town of Debaltseve, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has said.
"As of this moment [Wednesday evening], a total of 2,475 troops left Debaltseve (…) They include 2,132 servicemen of the Armed Forces and 158 National Guard soldiers. The others are servicemen of the Interior Ministry," Poroshenko told a session of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council (NSDC).
"Around 200 complete units of military hardware were withdrawn from the Debaltseve area," he said.
Six Ukrainian servicemen are believed to have been killed during the pullout, Poroshenko said.
"The preliminary information available suggests that we lost six Ukrainian heroes in the course of our withdrawal," he said.
More than 100 Ukrainian troops sustained injuries, he added.